Destroyers off Jutland


THEY had hot scent across the spumy sea,   
Gehenna and her sister, swift Shaitan,   
That in the pack, with Goblin, Eblis 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.   


By Reginald McIntosh Cleveland