The hour when earth's foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky. suspended;
They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay
--- A.E. Houseman, 1914
I met this poem in a book called Runner by Cynthia Voigt.
The second and third lines of the second verse ring for me.
Here is a bit of background on the poem, Posted by James R MacLean.
