We do not like to own it, We wish it were not so; It's useless to bemoan it, Or hide what all may know: That we're not in the gravy, That still our fortune's full, We owe the British Navy By grace of Johnny Bull. We count our golden dollars, We count our bags of grain, -- They'd all wear German collars If William ruled the main. Poor Russia is a slavey, Poor Belgium is a hell; Without the British Navy Their fate were ours as well. That we are our own masters And hold our banner high, That infinite disasters Have passed our nation by, That still in progress wavy Our skiff of state we pull, We owe the British Navy: Hurrah for Johnny Bull! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE GENERAL PUBLIC by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET LOCKED OUT; AS TOLD TO A CHILD by ROBERT FROST OLD MEN ON THE COURTHOUSE LAWN, MURRAY, KENTUCKY by JAMES GALVIN WHEN I AM DEAD by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON |