Get off your downy cots of ease, <br />There's work that must be done. <br />Great danger's riding on the seas. <br />The storm is coming on. <br />Don't think that it will quickly pass. <br />Who smiles at distant fate, <br />And waits until it strikes, alas! <br />Has roused himself too late. <br /> <br />Who thinks the fight will end before <br />The need of him arrives, <br />Is lengthening this brutal war <br />And costing many lives. <br />For over us that storm shall break <br />Ere many weeks have fled, <br />And we shall pay for our mistake <br />In fields of mangled dead. <br /> <br />Be ready when the foe shall near, <br />Be there to strike him hard; <br />Let us, though he be miles from here, <br />Be standing now on guard. <br />To-morrow's victories won't be won <br />By pluck that we display <br />To-morrow when the foe comes on, <br />But by our work to-day.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-alarm-3/
