________________________________________________
Title: Fight Or Pay
Author: Abner Cosens [
More Titles by Cosens]
October, 1915
The cause of Freedom needs our help,
The Old Land's in the fray,
It's up to every lion's whelp
To either fight or pay.
The bloody Turk and savage Hun
Still ravish, burn and slay,
Each loyal son must man a gun,
Or stay at home and pay.
Our sisters, mothers, sweethearts, wives,
They nurse, and knit, and pray,
Let men forego their selfish lives,
And either fight or pay.
The call is clear to sacrifice
Our life, our purse, our play;
Ere Honor dies, let us arise
And either fight or pay.
"England expects from every man
His duty on this day."
'Twas thus Lord Nelson's message ran
Ere he began the fray.
Shall we our noble heritage,
See crumbling down like clay,
This goodly age, a blotted page,
And neither fight nor pay?
Nay! While our British blood runs red,
Let those refuse who may,
We'll heed what mighty Nelson said
On old Trafalgar day,
From cottage, castle, palace, hall,
We'll come without delay,
At duty's call, and stake our all,
To fight, or pay, or pray.
[The end]
Abner Cosens's poem: Fight Or Pay
________________________________________________
GO TO TOP OF SCREEN
