OUR OFFENDER'S.

Otago Witness, Issue 3276, 27 December 1916, Page 52

OUR OFFENDER'S.

Fiercely the grim fight rages on. While from our homes we watch, and pray; And in our toiling day by day, Yea, even as the swift-ticked seconds fly, o*ur prayerful thoughts out-leap afar O'er ocean billows, and o'er mountains high; O'er forests and o'er cities desolate; Fair homes laid waste by an invader's hate; O'er deep and wide swift-flowing stream, Where in the earth 'nea-th scorching beam Of summer sun or moon's cold gleam Entrenched they ceaseless watch, and toil, and fight Throughout the summer's heat and winter's night; And many lives are spent; but in the strife Each soul so freed leaps forth from death to life. Our straining eyes see crimsoned land and sea, And this, ah! this the cost that we be free. And from our frozen lips our prayers scarce fall; But God, who seeth and who knoweth all, Hath heard our cry, will hear our voiceless pray'r, And He hath, our defenders in His care. Then looking Heavenward as we pray, Hovering afar, high in the air, We see more brave defenders.there. And. ceaselessly they watch, untiring fly. God surely holds, and keeps them in the sky. This, too, ' for our defence! For you For me! God make and keep us worthy to be free! Then in our visioned thoughts upon the deep, Through fierce wild storms upon the bleak North Sea, We see our ocean bulwarks; unasleep They watch and hold for us —for you, for me — All that we love, and hope to love and keep. Ah, God! that we be worthy to be free! —J. M. S. King.