Among a race high-handed, strong of heart,
Sea-rovers, conquerors, builders in the waste,
He had his birth; a nature too complete,
Eager and doubtful, no man's soldier sworn
And no man's chosen captain; born to fail,
A name without an echo: yet he too
Within the cloister of his narrow days
Fulfilled the ancestral rites, and kept alive
The eternal fire; it may be, not in vain;
For out of those who dropped a downward glance
Upon the weakling huddled at his prayers,
Perchance some looked beyond him, and then first
Beheld the glory, and what shrine it filled,
And to what Spirit sacred: or perchance
Some heard him chanting, though but to himself,
The old heroic names: and went their way:
And hummed his music on the march to death.
The Non-combatant
Henry Newbolt
(2)
Poem topics: birth, death, fire, heart, music, nature, sea, soldier, eternal, strong, narrow, spirit, march, complete, high, chosen, waste, eager, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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Dr David Weekes: Newbolt has some haunting phrases like "a name without an echo'" and "within the cloister of his narrow days". Of course there is a double meaning in what others saw in "the weaklng huddled at his prayers" and "first beheld the glory." It has both a Christian and a patriotic implication. Seeing someone at their prayers in Newbolt's day might inspire reflection on the relevance of Christianity, just as seeing the weakling might provoke going out to fight, "Praising the Lord" yet "passing the amunition." For a young man who did just that, see my book, "John Buchan's Kid Brother" on Amazon. Incidentally, Buchan was a friend of Newbolt.
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