poem

War songs

Christopher Stone (1882–1965), 1908

machine-read Machine-read (OCR) from a scanned book at the Internet Archive: expect misread words and names. The scan itself is at the library.

draft Matched to the battle automatically; not yet reviewed.

Passages that name the battle; the whole collection is at Internet Archive.

14 June 1645

Battle of Naseby

LXVI
LXVI
The Battle of Naseby
Oh, wherefore come ye forth in triumph from the north.

THE BATTLE OF NASEBY
Oh, evil was the root, and bitter was the fruit.
And crimson was the juice of the vintage that we
trod;
For we trampled on the throng of the haughty and
the strong.
Who sate in the high places, and slew the saints
of God.
138
THE BATTLE OF NASEBY
It was about the noon of a glorious day of June,
That we saw their banners dance, and their cuirasses
shine,
And the Man of Blood was there, with his long
essenced hair,
And Astley, and Sir Marmaduke, and Rupert of the
Rhine.

THE BATTLE OF NASEBY
Fools ! your doublets shone with gold, and your hearts
were gay and bold.
When you kissed your lily hands to your lemans
to-day;
And to-morrow shall the fox, from her chambers in the
rocks,
Lead forth her tawny cubs to howl above the prey.
140
THE BATTLE OF NASEBY
Where be your tongues that late mocked at heaven
and hell and fate.
And the fingers that once were so busy with your
blades,
Your perfumed satin clothes, your catches and your
oaths,
Your stage-plays and your sonnets, your diamonds
and your spades?

Public domain. Text from Internet Archive.