O WHAT has made that sudden noise? <br />What on the threshold stands? <br />It never crossed the sea because <br />John Bull and the sea are friends; <br />But this is not the old sea <br />Nor this the old seashore. <br />What gave that roar of mockery, <br />That roar in the sea's roar? <br />The ghost of Roger Casement <br />Is beating on the door. <br /> <br />John Bull has stood for Parliament, <br />A dog must have his day, <br />The country thinks no end of him, <br />For he knows how to say, <br />At a beanfeast or a banquet, <br />That all must hang their trust <br />Upon the British Empire, <br />Upon the Church of Christ. <br />The ghost of Roger Casement <br />Is beating on the door. <br /> <br />John Bull has gone to India <br />And all must pay him heed, <br />For histories are there to prove <br />That none of another breed <br />Has had a like inheritance, <br />Or sucked such milk as he, <br />And there's no luck about a house <br />If it lack honesty. <br />The ghost of Roger Casement <br />Is beating on the door. <br /> <br />I poked about a village church <br />And found his family tomb <br />And copied out what I could read <br />In that religious gloom; <br />Found many a famous man there; <br />But fame and virtue rot. <br />Draw round, beloved and bitter men, <br />Draw round and raise a shout; <br />The ghost of Roger Casement <br />Is beating on the door.<br /><br />William Butler Yeats<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-ghost-of-roger-casement/
