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A poem by E. Pauline Johnson

"And He Said, Fight On"

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Title:     "And He Said, Fight On"
Author: E. Pauline Johnson [More Titles by Johnson]

"AND HE SAID, FIGHT ON" [6]

(Tennyson)


Time and its ally, Dark Disarmament,
Have compassed me about,
Have massed their armies, and on battle bent
My forces put to rout;
But though I fight alone, and fall, and die,
Talk terms of Peace? Not I.

They war upon my fortress, and their guns
Are shattering its walls;
My army plays the cowards' part, and runs,
Pierced by a thousand balls;
They call for my surrender. I reply,
"Give quarter now? Not I."

They've shot my flag to ribbons, but in rents
It floats above the height;
Their ensign shall not crown my battlements
While I can stand and fight.
I fling defiance at them as I cry,
"Capitulate? Not I."


[1] E. Pauline Johnson died March 7th, 1913. Shortly after the doctors told her that her illness would be her final one, she wrote the above poem, taking a line from Tennyson as her theme.


[The end]
E. Pauline Johnson's Poem: "And He Said, Fight On"

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