Broken! The square is pierced! But only for a moment, though,
And shoulder-strap to shoulder-strap our brave lads meet the foe;
And on this day the Bedouin learns, in the Mahdi's shattered might,
With what a god-like majesty the island legions fight.
But, oh! the cost, the bitter cost! for ere the set of sun
The bravest heart of Alba's isle its earthly course has run;
And Britain weeps sad, bitter tears whilst flushed with victory,
For on Metemneh's blood-red sand lies noble Burnaby.
Avenged? Behold what hecatombs around the dead man lay
(The royal paw is heaviest when the lion's brought to bay);