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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


DESTROYERS OFF JUTLAND by REGINALD MCINTOSH CLEVELAND

First Line: THEY HAD HOT SCENT ACROSS THE SPUMY SEA
Last Line: THESE HOUNDS THAT ENGLAND SUCKLED AT THE BIRTH.
Subject(s): GREAT BRITAIN - NAVY; JUTLAND; WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;

THEY had hot scent across the spumy sea,
@3Gehenna@1 and her sister, swift @3Shaitan,@1
That in the pack, with @3Goblin, Eblis@1 ran
And many a couple more, full cry, foot-free;

The dog-fox and his brood were fain to flee,
But bare of fang and dangerous to the van
That pressed them close. So when the kill began
Some hounds were lamed and some died splendidly.

But from the dusk along the Skagerack,
Until dawn loomed upon the Reef of Horn
And the last fox had slunk back to his earth,
They kept the great traditions of the pack,
Staunch-hearted through the hunt, as they were born,
These hounds that England suckled at the birth.



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