Enlisted, Or The Recruits

Humbly, O England, we offer what is of little worth, Just our bodies and souls and everything else we have; But thou with thy holy cause wilt hallow our common earth, Giving us strength in the battle and peace, if need, in the grave. Humble, O England, we are, for of hero-fathers we come, Men that contested with tyrants the mightier destinies; Philip of Spain we remember, and the ships that never went home, And him that was caught at last, and isled in the warder seas. Humbly, O England, we bring thee life in its folly- stained youth, That which, it may be, has striven, but ever has slackened and tired; The faltering, often deceived, to combat now for the Truth, Dim-visioned, to smite for the morrow unknown but desired.