Australia to England

What of the years of Englishmen?What have they brought of growth and graceSince mud-built London by its fenBecame the Briton's breeding-place?What of the Village, where our bloodWas brewed by sires, half man, half brute,In vessels of wild womanhood,From blood of Saxon, Celt and Jute?

What are its gifts, this Harvest HomeOf English tilth and English cost,Where fell the hamlet won by RomeAnd rose the city that she lost?O! terrible and grand and strangeBeyond all phantasy that gleamsWhen Hope, asleep, sees radiant ChangeCome to her through the halls of dreams!

A heaving sea of life, that beatsLike England's heart of pride to-day,And up from roaring miles of streetsFlings on the roofs its human spray;And fluttering miles of flags aflow,And cannon's voice, and boom of bell,And seas of fire to-night, as thoughA hundred cities flamed and fell;

While, under many a fair festoonAnd flowering crescent, set ablazeWith all the dyes that English JuneCan lend to deck a day of days,And past where mart and palace rise,And shrine and temple lift their spears,Below five million misted eyesGoes a grey Queen of Sixty Years —

Go lords, and servants of the lordsOf earth, with homage on their lips,And kinsmen carrying English swords,And offering England battle-ships;And tribute-payers, on whose handsTheir English fetters scarce appear;And gathered round from utmost landsAmbassadors of Love and Fear!

Dim signs of greeting waved afar,Far trumpets blown and flags unfurled,And England's name an AvatarOf light and sound throughout the world —Hailed Empress among nations, QueenEnthroned in solemn majesty,On splendid proofs of what has been,And presages of what will be!

For this your sons, foreseeing notOr heeding not, the aftermath,Because their strenuous hearts were hotWent first on many a cruel path,And, trusting first and last to blows,Fed death with such as would gainsayTheir instant passing, or opposeWith talk of Right strength's right of way!

For this their names are on the stoneOf mountain spires, and carven treesThat stand in flickering wastes unknownWait with their dying messages;When fire blasts dance with desert driftsThe English bones show white below,And, not so white, when summer liftsThe counterpane of Yukon's snow.

Condemned by blood to reach for grapesThat hang in sight, however high,Beyond the smoke of Asian capes,The nameless, dauntless, dead ones lie;And where Sierran morning shinesOn summits rolling out like waves,By many a brow of royal pinesThe noisiest find quiet graves.

By lust of flesh and lust of gold,And depth of loins and hairy breadthOf breast, and hands to take and hold,And boastful scorn of pain and death,And something more of manlinessThan tamer men, and growing shameOf shameful things, and something lessOf final faith in sword and flame —

By many a battle fought for wrong,And many a battle fought for right,So have you grown august and strong,Magnificent in all men's sight —A voice for which the kings have ears,A face the craftiest statesmen scan;A mind to mould the after years,And mint the destinies of man!

Red sins were yours: the avid greedOf pirate fathers, smocked as Grace,Sent Judas missioners to readChrist's Word to many a feebler race —False priests of Truth who made their trystAt Mammon's shrine, and reft or slewSome hands you taught to pray to ChristHave prayed His curse to rest on you!

Your way has been to pluck the bladeToo readily, and train the guns.We here, apart and unafraidOf envious foes, are but your sons:We stretched a heedless hand to smutchOur spotless flag with Murder's blight —For one less sacrilegious touchGod's vengeance blasted Uzza white!

You vaunted most of forts and fleets,And courage proved in battle-feasts,The courage of the beast that eatsHis torn and quivering fellow-beasts;Your pride of deadliest armament —What is it but the self-same dintOf joy with which the Caveman bentTo shape a bloodier axe of flint?

But praise to you, and more than praiseAnd thankfulness, for some things done;And blessedness, and length of daysAs long as earth shall last, or sun!You first among the peoples spokeSharp words and angry questioningsWhich burst the bonds and shed the yokeThat made your men the slaves of Kings!

You set and showed the whole world's schoolThe lesson it will surely read,That each one ruled has right to rule —The alphabet of Freedom's creedWhich slowly wins it proselytesAnd makes uneasier many a throne;You taught them all to prate of RightsIn language growing like your own!

And now your holiest and bestAnd wisest dream of such a tieAs, holding hearts from East to West,Shall strengthen while the years go by:And of a time when every manFor every fellow-man will doHis kindliest, working by the planGod set him. May the dream come true!

And greater dreams! O Englishmen,Be sure the safest time of allFor even the mightiest State is whenNot even the least desires its fall!Make England stand supreme for aye,Because supreme for peace and good,Warned well by wrecks of yesterdayThat strongest feet may slip in blood!