``One more embrace! Then, o'er the main, <br />And nobly play the soldier's part!'' <br />Thus sounds, amid the martial strain, <br />The Spartan Mother's patriot heart. <br />She hides her woe, <br />She bids him go, <br />And tread the path his Fathers trod. <br />``Who dies for England, dies for God!'' <br /> <br />In the husht night, she wakes, she weeps, <br />And listens for the far-off fray. <br />He scours the gorge, he scales the steeps, <br />Scatters the Foe,-away! away! <br />But feigned the flight! <br />Smite, again smite! <br />How fleet their steeds, how nimbly shod! <br />She kneels, she prays-``Protect him, God!'' <br /> <br />Weep, tender souls. The sob, the tear, <br />The lonely prayer, the stifled wail, <br />These brace the will, these nerve the spear, <br />And speed him over veldt and vale. <br />What is to him <br />Or life or limb, <br />Who rends the chain and breaks the rod! <br />Who strikes for Freedom, strikes for God! <br /> <br />Should Heaven decree that he once more <br />Unscathed return to home and rest, <br />She will be standing at the door, <br />To fold him to her trembling breast. <br />Or, should he fall <br />By ridge or wall, <br />And lie 'neath some green southern sod,- <br />``Who dies for England, sleeps with God.''<br /><br />Alfred Austin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/spartan-mothers/
