THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW. TENNYSON. [Condensed.] DEDICATORY POEM TO THE PRINCESS ALICE. Dead Princess, living Power, if that, which lived True life, live on if what we call The spirit flash not all at once from out This shadow into substance - then perhaps The mellow'd murmur of the people's praise Ascends to thee; and this March morn that sees Thy soldier-brother's bridal orange-bloom Dying so English thou wouldst have her flag Borne on thy coffin where is he can swear But that some broken gleam from our poor earth May touch thee? While remembering thee, I lay At thy pale feet this ballad of the deeds I. Banner of England, not for a season, O banner of Britain, hast thou Floated in conquering battle or flapt to the battle-cry! Never with mightier glory than when we had reared thee on high, Flying at the top of the roofs in the ghastly siege of Lucknow Shot thro' the staff or the halyard, but ever we raised thee anew, And ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew. II. Frail were the works that defended the hold that we held with our lives. Women and children among us, God help them, our children and wives! Hold it we might-and for fifteen days, or for twenty at most. 66 Every man die at his post!" and there hail'd on our houses and halls Death from their rifle-bullets, and death from their cannon-balls. Bullets would sing by our foreheads, and bullets would rain at our feet Fire from ten thousand at once of the rebels that girdled us round Death at the glimpse of a finger from over the breadth of a street, Death from the heights of the mosque and the palace, and death in the ground! Mine? Yes, a mine! Countermine! down, down! and creep thro' the hole! Keep the revolver in hand! You can hear him the murderous mole. Quiet, ah! quiet wait till the point of the pickaxe be thro'! Click with the pick, coming nearer and nearer again than before — Now let it speak, and you fire, and the dark pioneer is no more; And ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew. III. Handful of men as we were, we were English in heart and in limb, Strong with the strength of the race to command, to obey, to endure, Each of us fought as if hope for the garrison hung but on him; Still could we watch at all points? We were every day fewer and fewer. IV. Praise to our Indian brothers, and let the dark-face have his due! Thanks to the kindly dark-faces who fought with us, faithful and few, Fought with the bravest among us, and drove them, and smote them, and slew, That ever upon the topmost roof our banner in India blew. V. Men will forget what we suffer and not what we do. We can fight; But to be soldier all day and be sentinel all thro' the night Ever the labor of fifty that had to be done by five, Ever the marvel among us that we should be left alive, |