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- THE GHOST OF ROGER CASEMENT
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- O WHAT has made that sudden noise?
- What on the threshold stands?
- It never crossed the sea because
- John Bull and the sea are friends;
- But this is not the old sea
- Nor this the old seashore.
- What gave that roar of mockery,
- That roar in the sea's roar?
- i{The ghost of Roger Casement}
- i{Is beating on the door.}
-
- John Bull has stood for Parliament,
- A dog must have his day,
- The country thinks no end of him,
- For he knows how to say,
- At a beanfeast or a banquet,
- That all must hang their trust
- Upon the British Empire,
- Upon the Church of Christ.
- i{The ghost of Roger Casement}
- i{Is beating on the door.}
-
- John Bull has gone to India
- And all must pay him heed,
- For histories are there to prove
- That none of another breed
- Has had a like inheritance,
- Or sucked such milk as he,
- And there's no luck about a house
- If it lack honesty.
- i{The ghost of Roger Casement}
- i{Is beating on the door.}
-
- I poked about a village church
- And found his family tomb
- And copied out what I could read
- In that religious gloom;
- Found many a famous man there;
- But fame and virtue rot.
- Draw round, beloved and bitter men,
- Draw round and raise a shout;
- i{The ghost of Roger Casement}
- i{Is beating on the door.}
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