No men are foreign by James Kirkup

Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign

Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes

Like ours; the land our brothers walk upon

Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie.

They, too aware of sun and air and water,

Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war's long winter starv'd.

Their hands are ours, and in their lines we read

A labour not different from our own.

Remember they have eyes like ours that wake

Or sleep, and strength that can be won

By love. In every land is common life

That all can recognize and understand.

Let us remember, whenever, we are told

To hate our brothers, it is ourselves

That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn.

Remember, we who take arms against each other.

It is the human earth that we defile.

Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence

Of air that is everywhere our own.

Remember, no men are foreign, and no countries strange.

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