| George Herbert Clarke, ed. (1873–1953). A Treasury of War Poetry. 1917. |
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| 39. The Kaiser and Belgium |
| | | By Stephen Phillips |
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| HE said: “Thou petty people, let me pass. | |
| What canst thou do but bow to me and kneel?” | |
| But sudden a dry land caught fire like grass, | |
| And answer hurtled but from shell and steel. | |
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| He looked for silence, but a thunder came | 5 |
| Upon him, from Liège a leaden hail. | |
| All Belgium flew up at his throat in flame | |
| Till at her gates amazed his legions quail. | |
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| Take heed, for now on haunted ground they tread; | |
| There bowed a mightier war lord to his fall: | 10 |
| Fear! lest that very green grass again grow red | |
| With blood of German now as then with Gaul. | |
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| If him whom God destroys He maddens first, | |
| Then thy destruction slake thy madman’s thirst. | |
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