Farewell

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  Mother, with unbowed head
  Hear thou across the sea
  The farewell of the dead,
  The dead who died for thee.
Greet them again with tender words and grave,
For saving thee, themselves they could not save.

  To keep the house unharmed
  Their fathers built so fair,
  Deeming endurance armed
  Better than brute despair,
They found the secret of the word that saith,
"Service is sweet, for all true life is death."

  So greet thou well thy dead
  Across the homeless sea,
  And be thou comforted
  Because they died for thee.
Far off they served, but now their deed is done
For evermore their life and thine are one.

© Sir Henry Newbolt