As it was in the beginning, so we’ll find it in the end, <br />For a lover, or a brother, or a sweetheart, or a friend; <br />As it was in the beginning, so we’ll find it by-and-bye, <br />When weak women hug their babies, and strong men go out to die. <br />As ’tis written now, or spoken, so we’ll find it yet in deed— <br />For their State, or for their Country, for their Honour or their Creed; <br />For the love of Right, or hatred for the Everlasting Lie, <br />When the women think of some things, and strong men go out to die. <br /> <br />As it used to be in past times, in the future so it must, <br />We shall find him stretching forward with his face down in the dust, <br />All his wounds in front, and hidden—blood to earth, and back to sky, <br />When pale women pray in private, and strong men go out to die. <br /> <br />Rebels all we are, and brothers—rebels to the laws we make— <br />Rich or poor, or fat or lean man, fighting for another’s sake; <br />It is all as God decreed it—we shall find it by-and-bye, <br />When our girls, disguised in boys’ clothes, go to die where strong men die.<br /><br />Henry Lawson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/as-it-was-in-the-beginning-2/
