UNFURL THE FLAG.

Otago Witness, Issue 2515, 28 May 1902, Page 59

UNFURL THE FLAG.

The following lines weie written when it was considered prooable that a European alliance would have interposed in the war m South Afiica.

Sternhold, what of the night 9 Are the battle lanterns burning? Arc we all prepared for the fight?

Tell me! How does the Old Ship bear her, With' all thio ijress of sail ?

I think, as I gaze to windward, I smell powder j.n the gale!

If we close with the foe ere the dawning, Be tliou to thy promise true ; If we scourge not the foe ere the morning.

Let the broad Empire sink with her ciew.

I have not slept this night, Sternhold—

I feel the weight of my trust; I fancy I hear -the roar

Of battle with every freshening gust. Cast a little more light on the scene, holdJust 'one electric flash. Ah'! her crew stand iirm at the quarters— Their attitude tells 7 the dash That lurks in each heaving breast f There, the light of battle on their faces glow, As shadows at sunset come and go. Bring me the old flag hither, Sternhold,

And, ere it is nailed to the mast, And its flaunting folds of crimson

To the winds of heaven cast, We swear, on our sacred honour,

We swear by our Edward's name, We swear by our fathers' ashes,

We swear by our thirst for fame, To pursue with death and destruction,

To destroy with fire and flame, Wherever the foeman's keel may glide,

Where'er his 'ships at anchor ride, Or where, in their peril, they seek to hide

From the meteor flag that sweeps the tide!

Sternhold, nail it aloft once more — Nail it aloft as our fathers did in days of yore! There it shall fly till our Empire's belt By the nations of earth be known and felt! — C. H. Welch.

Port Chalmers, May, 1902.