Scarborough, December 16th

 Let the great sea-beast rage! far better so
    To see him as he is with dragon jaw,
    The little children in his ravening maw,
Than deem him human-hearted, bred to know
The code of honour betwixt foe and foe;
    The waves that rage, the tides that fret and
            gnaw,
    These are obedient to a nobler law—
These when the winds for war their trumpets
            blow
Fight, but they fight with men: this German
            might
    Must pit itself with woman and with child
        Not warriors, but assassins do they come—
Steal to unarmoured cities in the night—
    Belch forth their fires of hate with madness
            wild
        And slink through fog dishonourably home.

(The European War 1914-1915 Poems, p. 143)