The White Sail, and Other Poems

by Louise Imogen Guiney

Barred from the charging mass
In the choked market-pass,
All he could do, alas!
Now, was to clang it:

Nay, more:—’God save the King!’
With a last clarion ring,
Shot ere he ceased to sing,
Allio sang it.

L Y R I C S

YOUTH.

LET us hymn thee for our silent brothers,
Freely as the wild impellent wind blows,
Briefly, rudely, in the smoky pauses
Of a battle, in the stress and scourging
Of the sail apast thy heavenly margin;
Let us hymn thee, while the gallant pulses
In high heart and limbs one kingliest instant,
Boom and flash thy name and their allegiance;
‘Once, and for one only,’ let us hymn thee,
O Delight, O Sunrise, O sole Answer,
Empery unbought, supreme Adventure,
Youth, ah, Youth! all men’s desire and sorrow.