The Conqueror
The following was written upon the outbreak of the Great War of 1914-1918 by Harry Kemp, a Bath railway porter. It might well have been written upon . the outbreak of this Great War, 25 years later. I saw the conqueror go riding by With trampling feet of horse and men; Empire on empire like the tide Flooded the world and ebbed again. A thousand banners caught the sun, And cities smoked along the plain; And laden down with silk and gold And heaped-up pillage; groaned the wain. I saw the conquerors riding by Splashing through loathsome floods of war; - The Crescent leaning o’er its hosts, : And the barbaric scimitar. And continents of moving spears, And storm of arrows in the sky, And all the instruments sought out By cunning men that men may die! I saw the conquerors riding by 1 With cruel lips and faces wan; ' Musing a kingdom sacked and burned, There rode the Mongol, Genghis Khan. 1 And Alexander, like a god, ? Who sought to weld the world in one; • And Caesar with his laurel wreath; " And, leaping full of hell, the Hun. 3 J And, leading like a star the van, i Heedless of upstretched arm and groan, Inscrutable Napoleon went 1 Dreaming of empire, and alone. 1 Then all they perished from the earth, • As fleeting shadow from a glass, Y And, conquering down the centuries r Came Christ, the swordless, on an ass! ir 1 ’ , . —Harry Kemp.
a / EAGER TO BEGIN 0 i- A small boy on his way to spend >• Christmas holidays with a friend was '• continually asking the guard if the d train had arrived at Feilding. In fact, he asked at every station, and the e guard’s temper was becoming a little b short. 3, At last the train actually did arrive d at Feilding. “Here you are, youngg ster,’’ said the guard. “Here’s your e Feilding for you.’’ If Thank you,’’ said the boy without ?- moving. a- ‘ ' Well, ’ ’ said the guard, ‘' aren’t you m going to get out?’’ n. | “Oh, no,’’ said the boy., “I have a !1 i long way further to go, but mother told ; me to eat my sandwiches at Feilding.’’
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/WWOBS19421211.2.9
Bibliographic details
Observation Post, Volume 1, Issue 30, 11 December 1942, Page 3
Word Count
366The Conqueror Observation Post, Volume 1, Issue 30, 11 December 1942, Page 3
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