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Katharine Lee Bates - The U-Boat CrewKatharine Lee Bates - The U-Boat Crew
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ALAS, alas for those blond boys who stalk Their prey in ambush of the shuddering seas, Whiling the wait with merry, tender talk Of some dear knot of flower-clad cottages Beyond the Rhine! The merchantship draws on; Their swift torpedo strikes its mark; the sea Moans with the dying; for a victory won They thank the pagan god of Germany. Happier to die the hideous, smothering death, Too deep for mercy, in their own snared trap, Than live to learn how time interpreteth The cause they served; the tragical mishap Of pride that pledged The Day and brought The Night; —Than live to loathe their Fatherland, a name So high, so fallen, that betrayed their bright Young loyalty to savageries of shame.
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