I have been in France. There are some poplars still,
And Norman spires unwounded on the hill:
I saw the slaughtered cities but I saw
The flags of freedom, and the lamps of law.
I saw Montgomery, tremendous man,
Loosing the lightning from a caravan,
Crusading calmly in his corduroys,
The coolest thunderbolt the King employs.
I saw his weary soldiers, in the dust,
Salute with love, and not because they must:
For he has won the battle of belief,
And Cockneys are Crusaders, like 'the Chief.
I saw the beaches, and, with humble feet,
Walked in the wake of the Crusaders' Fleet:
I saw the ships, a never-ending chain,
That makes the Channel English once again.
And I remembered-five short years before
Some German said that England was no more.
August 20, 1944