If ever ye watched through a wakeful night
Till the dawn should break and the dusk grow thin,
And a tale brought solace in pain's despite,
Give them the key to enter in.
Once they were stalwart, swift to dare;
Little could baulk them, naught affright;
Still are they staunch as then they were,
Strong to endure as once to smite.
Yet for awhile if so they might
They would forget the strife and din;