The Jealous* Patriot

(non angeli, sed Angli!)

     England, my birthright! Savagely I scourge

          Smug piety and surly discontent,

          The stubborn stupor of the Government,

     The palsy of the people. The slow surge

     Of cave-bound seas! With bloodied whips I urge

          The hounds of satire and invective, vent

          Indignant shrewish spleen. All song is spent

     Thriftless, a dull unprofitable dirge.

     “Jealous,” Time’s slur on “zealous.” Dourly fond,

     In the dumb core of my strong soul respond

          Silences sacred beyond speech or token,

     Sacred to Love : mine England, thou art mine,

     I thine, the secret of the midmost shrine,

          The God unguessed-at, and the Word unspoken.

                                                  Richmond, Surrey.

                                                            May 10, ’42.

* “Jealous”: see Skeat, Etymological Dictionary.