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Rudyard Kipling - Edgehill Fight
Work rating: Low

Naked and grey the Cotswolds stand 
Beneath the summer sun, 
And the stubble fields on either hand 
Where Sour and Avon run. 
There is no change in the patient land 
That has bred us every one. 

She should have passed in cloud and fire 
And saved us from this sin 
Of war—red war—`twixt child and sire, 
Household and kith and kin, 
In the heart of a sleepy Midland shire, 
With the harvest scarcely in. 

But there is no change as we meet at last 
On the brow-head or the plain, 
And the raw astonished ranks stand fast 
To slay or to be slain 
By the men they knew in the kindly past 
That shall never come again— 

By the men they met at dance or chase, 
In the tavern or the hall, 
At the justice bench and the market place, 
At the cudgel play or brawl— 
Of their own blood and speech and race, 
Comrades or neighbors all! 

More bitter than death this day must prove 
Whichever way it go, 
For the brothers of the maids we love 
Make ready to lay low 
Their sisters` sweethearts, as we move 
Against our dearest foe. 

Thank Heaven! At last the trumpets peal 
Before our strength gives way. 
For King or for the Commonweal— 
No matter which they say, 
The first dry rattle of new-drawn steel 
Changes the world today!
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