The Fourth of August by Edward Elgar Lyrics

Now in thy splendour go before us
Spirit of England, ardent-eyed!
Enkindle this dear earth that bore us
In the hour of peril purified

The cares we hugged drop out of vision
Our hearts with deeper thoughts dilate
We step from days of sour division
Into the grandeur of our fate

For us the glorious dead have striven;
They battled that we might be free
We to that living cause are given
We arm for men that are to be

Among the nations nobliest chartered
England recalls her heritage
With her is that which is not bartered
Which force can neither quell nor cage

For her immortal stars are burning
With her, the hope that's never done
The seed that's in the Spring's returning
The very flower that seeks the sun
We fight the fraud that feeds desire on
Lies, in a lust to enslave or kill
The barren creed of blood and iron
Vampire of Europe's wasted will

Endure, O Earth! and thou, awaken
Purged by this dreadful winnowing-fan
O wronged, untameable, unshaken
Soul of divinely suffering man!