VERDUN

Allen Tucker

Sidney Joseph

France indomitable, Holding, holding, Holding the Pass to Beauty Against the wolves of the world.

France magnificent, Wounded, wounded, Lighting with her flaming spirit A beacon for the nations.

The wolves, The hungry wolves, With jaws adrip, Seeking to destroy, Come on.

And France, Fighting France, Kills and kills.

But they come and come. For it is a nation of wolves, A whole people, Bent on the destruction of Beauty, On the enslavement of the world.

But France, imperishable, Holds.

And the wolves, beaten backward, Know that they cannot pass: Know in their darkened hearts That France, Sweet France, Has, with the terrible strength of her steadfast soul, Saved Beauty, Saved Beauty-for the world.