CHILDREN we deemed you all the days

We vexed you with our care:

But in a Universe ablaze,

What was your childish share?

To rush upon the flames of Hell,

To quench them with your blood!

To be of England's flower that fell

Ere yet it brake the bud!

And we who wither where we grew,

And never shed but tears,

As children now would follow you

Through the remaining years;

Tread' in the steps we thought to guide,

As firmly as you trod;

And keep the name you glorified

Clean before matt and God.