A PRAYER OF EMPIRE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 203, 12 August 1914, Page 3

A PRAYER OF EMPIRE.

O! God of the mighty ocean, Lord of the mystic deep, Whose arm for generations has shown us how to keep The Empire that our fathers won by their strength of work and brain, Give back to us their patriotism, send us their spirit again.

O! God of infinite wisdom, teach us the mighty truth— If age is to pass in comfort, work taus‘ he toiled in youth. The aid Thou freely givest is given to those alone Who look for no other harvest save that which their hand has sown.

Though the bow may be unbended, the string must ready be, With the arrows sharp and shining, if the land would ay be free, And every man and woman is a link in the Empire chain; See that your own link fail not when the Nation takes the strain.

Will the lion go a-roaring before he strikes his prey? Will War give any warning till the foe is on his way ? As the lightning leads the thunder, so the shot precedes the. sound. And if hap the sun be darkened no foreshadows will be found.

There's no menace in prepar’dness, no threat in being strong. If the people’s brain be healthy and thev think no thought of wrong. But the Nation that’s unready when the blow’s about to fall Finds the mill of God grinds quickly, while it grinds exceeding small.

O! God of the restless Ocean, Lord Arbiter of Earth, Sow us the patriotic seed and multiply its birth ; . Stir up our sleeping people m north, south, east, and west, To keep themselves in second thought and give their land their best.

—Mark Kerr, ‘The Nation in Arms.’