TRIBUTE TO FRANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 208, 31 August 1918, Page 13

TRIBUTE TO FRANCE.

Xext week the people of Auckland will be asked to join in paving a tribute to France for what she is and what she has done for us and the world. As appropriate to the occasion, we reprint the following verses from the "New York Tribune": — TO FRANCE. a France which was a worthy ally of the uneonquered and unconquerable British Empire ... — "The Great War. -, France, we salute thee. Fearless, free, and aflame, though the wolfs teeth meet in thine arm! We salute thee, river and lea. Vineyard and forest, castle and deathscourg'd farm! Every blade of thy grass is a spear uplifted to free, Every leaf a Colour of Victory. But more we salute the flame o£ thy soul. That sword of fire In the terror of night, Its hilt in the earth, its blade in the thunder roll, While to and fro, like a cringing light. Close to the earth, dumb, ravaged and rent, The souls of the craven are blown and bent. France! Forgive him who said thou wert worthy to stand By our side. We come to thy shrine Hot from the agony, sword in hand: On our forehead the pride of a battle line Flung o'er the peaks of a thousand years, And in our eyes glad tears For those who, greatly llviDg, taid life down, From Senlac's doom to Agincourfs renown. From Grenville's bridal death and Albuera's crest, To the line of Ypres, where the only shield Of Freedom was the living breast. But they who would not yield To foe will yield to thee, O France! The splendour of thy sacrifice Thy white soul's radiance, Dazzle our eyes ; And in the House of Victory We hend the knee and humbly claim The right by deed to march with thee, To tread the same deep-smitten way And storm the heights of God's full day. France! This boon do we ask: By the touch of thy sword Make us knight of thy task. Accept us, O cooira.de, beloved und higsL. As brother by treasure of manhood outpoured. As lover by bond of onr holy quest: O flame-browed daughter of Duty—France! —ALAN E. JirWJAX.