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Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

The Volunteer

Henry Newbolt

“He leapt to arms unbidden,
  Unneeded, over-bold;
His face by earth is hidden,
  His heart in earth is cold.

“Curse on the reckless daring
  That could not wait the call,
The proud fantastic bearing
  That would be first to fall!”

O tears of human passion,
  Blur not the image true;
This was not folly’s fashion,
  This was the man we knew.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Collected Poems 1897—1907
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