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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WE HOPE TO WIN by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: WE HOPE TO WIN?' BY GOD'S HELP - 'YES'
Last Line: WE HOPE TO WIN.
Subject(s): WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;

'WE hope to win?' By God's help -- 'Yes':
Though of the 'when,' no man can guess,
Since there may yet be long-drawn strain,
Alternate change of pride and pain,
Till Victory come -- at last -- to bless.

But there are other wars that press --
Wars bred of surfeit and success --
Which, if we would our place maintain,
We hope to win.

There is the war with Selfishness --
The purblind fiend that 'doubts' distress;
With hearts that fail and lips that feign;
With Drink, with Lust, with Greed of Gain...
These are the wars in which, not less,
We hope to win.



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