Benn Wilkes Jones Trevaldwyn.
ARNOLD
LXXXIX
THE FIRST DISTRIBUTION OF THE VICTORIA CROSS
(June 26, 1857)
To-day the people gather from the streets,
To-day the soldiers muster near and far;
Peace, with a glad look and a grateful, meets
Her rugged brother War.
To-day the Queen of all the English land,
She who sits high o’er Kaisers and o’er Kings,
Gives with her royal hand—th’ Imperial hand
Whose grasp the earth enrings—
Her Cross of Valour to the worthiest;
No golden toy with milky pearl besprent,
But simple bronze, and for a warrior’s breast
A fair, fit ornament.
And richer than red gold that dull bronze seems,
Since it was bought with lavish waste and worth
Whereto the wealth of earth’s gold-sanded streams
Were but a lack, and dearth.
Muscovite metal makes this English Cross,
Won in a rain of blood and wreath of flame;
The guns that thundered for their brave lives’ loss
Are worn hence, for their fame!