TIME-WORN they stand o'er the shelving strand As they stood in the days of old When the rovers free, who sailed the sea, Came questing for land and gold; And a kingly spoil was the English soil And red was the English gold. When watching eyes saw the top-masts rise On the skyline far and low, There was ready a hail for a friendly sail And a leaden blast for a foe. And great and small (if they went at all) Went a shattered and sorry foe. Men watch no more from the turrets hoar, No beacon crowns the steep, Fast sleep the towers thro' the long dark hours Whilst the watchers walk the deep. Aye, night and day o'er the royal way, Steel shod, they walk the deep. Tense, grim and black on the foemen's track They thunder with fiery breath, For teeth and claws are the sea-dogs' laws And their grip is a grip to death. Thro' the flurry of foam the steel drives home And the kiss of the steel is death. So the old towers sleep and the new powers keep Their ward by the gateway old, For a kingly spoil is the English soil And red is the English gold. But those who take, our guard must break Of Fire and Steel and Gold. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: AMOS SIBLEY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS JUST & UNJUST by CHARLES SYNGE CHRISTOPHER BOWEN A MAN'S REQUIREMENTS by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING OBERON'S FEAST by ROBERT HERRICK SONNET by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS ALMS by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY |