Verdun


She is a wall of brass;

You shall not pass! You shall not pass!

Spring up like summer grass,

Surge at her, mass on mass,

Still shall you break like glass,

Splinter and break like shivered glass,

But pass?

You shall not pass!

Germans, you shall not, shall not pass!

God's hand has written on the wall of brass--

You sha
l not pass! You shall not pass!



The valleys are quaking,

The torn hills are shaking,

The earth and the sky seem breaking.

But unbroken, undoubting, a wonder and sign,

She stands, France stands, and still holds to the line.

She counts her wounded and her dead;

You shall not pass!

She sets her teeth, she bows her head;

You shall not pass!

Till the last soul in the fierce line has fled,

You shall not pass!



Help France? Help France?

Who would not, thanking God for this great chance,

Stretch out his hands and run to succor France?



HAROLD BEGBIE.



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