Quis Pro Domino?
1
Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay--
Ay' verily: and by ministry of such men
As did His will upon the Saracen:
And Christendom owns not that man today
Who deems it not the holiest task to slay,
So utterly, that they rise not again,
Yon blatant heathenrie, past human ken
Outlawed to death, its raving spawn and prey.
And thou has lit one flame of love and wrath,
Who, all unterrified, didst take thy stand,
And tear the Beast, and baulk him of his spring.
O noble Belgium, lion in the path;
An inch of sword holding a foot of land;
A folk of men, showing a man for King!
2
The metaphysic Death-in-Death that lurks
Within our world, and from its grisly haunt
With breath of chill misgiving seeks to daunt,
In vain, the immortal mind is challenge irks,
Incarnate for this time of power, murks
Our human heaven, whereo'er its banners flaunt
Annihilation, while its legions vaunt
Destruction. As their creed is, so their works.
And ev'n so be their doom, themselves have thought,
Who, past the living, warr'd upon those dead
Who, being dead, yet spake thro' that they wrought -
So fierce their hate against the soul they dread!
Ev'n so their doom: that Death's dead spawn may cram
Her maw, and, there corrupting, slay their dam.
1
Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay--
Ay' verily: and by ministry of such men
As did His will upon the Saracen:
And Christendom owns not that man today
Who deems it not the holiest task to slay,
So utterly, that they rise not again,
Yon blatant heathenrie, past human ken
Outlawed to death, its raving spawn and prey.
And thou has lit one flame of love and wrath,
Who, all unterrified, didst take thy stand,
And tear the Beast, and baulk him of his spring.
O noble Belgium, lion in the path;
An inch of sword holding a foot of land;
A folk of men, showing a man for King!
2
The metaphysic Death-in-Death that lurks
Within our world, and from its grisly haunt
With breath of chill misgiving seeks to daunt,
In vain, the immortal mind is challenge irks,
Incarnate for this time of power, murks
Our human heaven, whereo'er its banners flaunt
Annihilation, while its legions vaunt
Destruction. As their creed is, so their works.
And ev'n so be their doom, themselves have thought,
Who, past the living, warr'd upon those dead
Who, being dead, yet spake thro' that they wrought -
So fierce their hate against the soul they dread!
Ev'n so their doom: that Death's dead spawn may cram
Her maw, and, there corrupting, slay their dam.