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“What shall I do for the land that bred me …” by Gerard Manley Hopkins 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (28 Jul 1844 – 8 Jun 1889)
What shall I do for the land that bred me,
Her homes and fields that folded and fed me?—
Be under her banner and live for her honour:
Under her banner I’ll live for her honour.
Under her banner live for her honour.
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Not the pleasure, the pay, the plunder,
But country and flag, the flag I am under—
There is the shilling that finds me willing
To follow a banner and fight for honour.
We follow her banner, we fight for her honour.
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Call me England’s fame’s fond lover,
Her fame to keep, her fame to recover.
Spend me or end me what God shall send me,
But under her banner I live for her honour.
Under her banner we march for her honour.
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Where is the field I must play the man on?
O welcome there their steel or cannon.
Immortal beauty is death with duty,
If under her banner I fall for her honour.
Under her banner we fall for her honour.