For all we have and are,
 For all our children's fate,
 Stand up and meet the war.
 The Hun is at the gate!
 Our world has passed away
 In wantonness o'erthrown.
 There is nothing left to-day
 But steel and fire and stone.

 Though all we knew depart,
 The old commandments stand:
 "In courage keep your heart,
In strength lift up your hand."

 Once more we hear the word
 That sickened earth of old:
 "No law except the sword
 Unsheathed and uncontrolled,"
 Once more it knits mankind,
 Once more the nations go
 To meet and break and bind
 A crazed and driven foe.

 Comfort, content, delight --
 The ages' slow-bought gain --
 They shrivelled in a night,
 Only ourselves remain
 To face the naked days
 In silent fortitude,
 Through perils and dismays
 Renewd and re-renewed.

 Though all we made depart,
 The old commandments stand:
In patience keep your heart,
 In strength lift up your hand."

 No easy hopes or lies
 Shall bring us to our goal,
 But iron sacrifice
Of body, will, and soul.
There is but one task for all --
For each one life to give.
Who stands if freedom fall?
Who dies if England live?

 
By:  Rudyard Kipling