Versamelde gedigte

France, 1940

‘France is no longer to be reckoned with ...’ - A Statesman.

Nay, rather deem the radiance of the sun

Forever gone, eclipsed eternally,

Than that this France, that taught men to be free,

Shall pass away when our great fight is won.
We have not dared so much nor so much done

To suffer what such loss is like to be

To the whole human world, nor shall we see

So sweet a triumph for the vanquished Hun.

Her martyred sons and daughters that abide

In patient hope, have helped her to endure

Contumely, pity, trial and mischance.

By faith restored, by doubt and danger tried,

By suffering trebly heartened and made pure,

France shall regain the glory that is France.

Yes, like the sun that sets beneath a sea

Whose war-churned breakers wash a wasted land

No longer strong but still in weakness grand,

Where all that live and breathe live but to be
Dead, if the choice be death or slavery,

And ere death comes in proud defiance stand,

Faithful to that stern faith that makes demand

Relentlessly on all that dare be free,
So France will rise when dawn's east-brightening glow

Heralds the glory of her greater day,

To flood the world with far-enfolding light,

To lead once more where art and beauty show

A nation's greatness. France, that none can stay

From the proud primacy that is hers by right.