When loud Invasion with infuriate roar, <br />With boastful threatening shakes Britannia's shore; <br />Should Alfred turn his sainted eyes to earth, <br />And view the hallow'd seats that gave him birth, <br />How would he praise the patriot worth that calls <br />Her manly sons from Vinitagia's walls! <br />Though far from billowy ocean's blue domains, <br />No hostile power can waste their inland plains, <br />When Gallia arms and injur'd Albion bleeds, <br />Wherever glory points and valour leads, <br />Zealous from each domestic bliss they go <br />To meet on distant fields their country's foe, <br />Feeling their monarch's sacred rights their own, <br />Their swords his bulwark, and their heart his throne.<br /><br />Henry James Pye<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/verses-sent-to-the-corps-of-wantage/
