and strife;
And the need of the moment is pluck, and the guerdon of valour is
life.

That guerdon you've snatched from the teeth of the thundering
tiger-maw'd waves,
And the valour that smites is as naught, after all, to the valour
that saves.
They are safe on the shore, who had sunk in the whirl of the
floods but for _you_!
And some said you had lost your old grit and devotion! We knew
'twas not true.

The soft-hearted shore-going critics of conduct themselves would
not dare,
The trivial cocksure belittlers of dangers they have not to share,
Claim much--oh _so_ much, from rough manhood,--unflinching cool
daring in fray,
And selflessness utter, from toilers with little of praise, and
less pay.

Her heroes to get "on the cheap" from the rough rank and file of
her sons
Has been England's good fortune so long, that the scribblers'
swift tongue-babble runs
To the old easy tune without thought. "Gallant sea-dogs and
life-savers!" Yes!
But poor driblets of lyrical praise should not be their sole
guerdon, I guess.