IF ENGLAND FAIL!
The heritage of thy majestic name, 0 England, will it wither as the flower, When brutal force and low, material power Would give the hearth and altar to the flame, The infant to the bayonet, the dame And slender daughter to the horrible hour, While men before the murderous Tyrant cower, While trodden peoples vainly cry, “For shame.” Not while the fleets of England ride the seas, Not while the name of England rings anew, Not while the flag of England to the breeze Is flung, and terrible work is yet to do. Not while an English mother on her knees Pleads with the Power supreme the ages through. Though England’s sun were -wholly quenched in might. Her spirit of dauntless majesty remains. The soul of man would burst the cankering chains Of the Oppressor as the snowy height Towers from the storm-wrack, more serene and bright, A beacon to the toilers on the plains, Or we who listen by the unslumbering main’s ©eop voice as doubtful of the far-ahead fight. The majesty of England cannot die! Though she were quenched in blood her passionate soul Long since attained to immortality, And long as winds are free and waters roll, And long as man hath anguish to be Free, The name of England spurs him to the goal. Chables Oscab Palmeb.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19151006.2.183
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 3212, 6 October 1915, Page 68
Word Count
224IF ENGLAND FAIL! Otago Witness, Issue 3212, 6 October 1915, Page 68
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