Post by Administrator on Nov 7, 2015 0:03:30 GMT
If blood was the price:
A hymn to the English dead of, and in, the sea. It may be remarked that the date of the poem’s composition saw Imperial Britain, bolstered by its world-wide and unrivalled sea-power, at the very peak of its world dominance, and the phrase that starts line 7 of each of the three stanzas of this portion of the poem “If blood be the price of Admiralty . . .” became one of Kipling’s better-known quotations.
The Song of the Dead:
We must feed our sea for a thousand years,
For that is our doom and pride,
As it was when they sailed with the Golden Hind,
Or the wreck that struck last tide—
Or the wreck that lies on the spouting reef
Where the ghastly blue-lights flare.
If blood be the price of admiralty,
If blood be the price of admiralty,
If blood be the price of admiralty,
Lord God, we ha’ bought it fair!
The Song of the Dead
First time I heard the Merchant Navy reference years ago was as below: Guess a few adaptations have been termed and very likely Churchill may have adapted the Song of the dead also ? K
“If Blood was the price
We had to pay for our freedom
Then the Merchant Ship Sailors
Paid it in full”
From: Norman Date / Hon Secretary/ Merchant Navy Association Bristol UK
LINK
A hymn to the English dead of, and in, the sea. It may be remarked that the date of the poem’s composition saw Imperial Britain, bolstered by its world-wide and unrivalled sea-power, at the very peak of its world dominance, and the phrase that starts line 7 of each of the three stanzas of this portion of the poem “If blood be the price of Admiralty . . .” became one of Kipling’s better-known quotations.
The Song of the Dead:
We must feed our sea for a thousand years,
For that is our doom and pride,
As it was when they sailed with the Golden Hind,
Or the wreck that struck last tide—
Or the wreck that lies on the spouting reef
Where the ghastly blue-lights flare.
If blood be the price of admiralty,
If blood be the price of admiralty,
If blood be the price of admiralty,
Lord God, we ha’ bought it fair!
The Song of the Dead
First time I heard the Merchant Navy reference years ago was as below: Guess a few adaptations have been termed and very likely Churchill may have adapted the Song of the dead also ? K
“If Blood was the price
We had to pay for our freedom
Then the Merchant Ship Sailors
Paid it in full”
From: Norman Date / Hon Secretary/ Merchant Navy Association Bristol UK
LINK