AS ONG

B RITAIN loves the men who sweat
In the furnace and the mine,
Faithful till the eyes forget
Daylight and the sweet sunshine:
Lusty arms and quick to forge
The fighting armour of Saint George.

Britain loves the fustian fellow
Stooped to sickle, spade and plough,
Who in the brown field and the yellow
Dutifully bends his brow:
He cuts Astick to feed the fire,
John Barleycorn's Saint George's squire.

And she loves the high-stool hermit,
Shiny elbows, pasty face;
For however men may term it,
Buy-and-Sell's a true man's place:
By the club and by the pen
Prentices are Saint George's men.

But give her redcoat and bluejacket
Who plough the blue and reap the red,
Mine a wall of steel and crack it,
Buy and sell their lead for lead:
Round his shaft the Dragon curled,
Spear-point in the Dragon's gorge,
His helm a lightning to the world,
Saint George himself, Saint George, Saint George!