Title: Thus Honour Calls
Fandom: Henry V
Rating: PG
Length: 104
Summary: A sonnet based on the performance of Henry V I saw at Gloucester Cathedral, in which WWI soldiers perform the play.
This is an Italian sonnet, so the first eight lines serve as the question - in this case the action as the men of Shakespeare's Henry V viewed it; the last six lines, the answer, are the realities for the WWI soldiers.

Thus honour calls the English on to fight
And follow on behind their lawful king
The dauphin’s challenge delivered late that spring
Is answered by the warriors’ proofs of might
And battle’s doubts redoubled by the night
Are chased away as birds rise on the wing
So vanquished foe are brought to reckoning
And victors prove their honour and their right
But now that honour tarnishéd and worn
Bears testament to trenches and gunfire
To limbless men, the blinded and worse fears
To bloody men with battledresses torn
To shouted orders, whistles, mud and mire
For honour’s dead and all that’s left is tears