Britons Beyond the Seas.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2, 14 January 1905, Page 41

Britons Beyond the Seas.

A BALLAD. BA HAROLD BEGBIE. (Published In No. 1 of “The Dally Mail Over Seas Edition. ') God made our bodies of all the dust that Is scattered about tbe world. That we might wander In search of home wherever the seas are hurl'd; But our hearts He hath made of English dust, and mixed it with none beside. That we m'ght love with an endless Jove the land where our kings abide. And tho’ we weave on a hundred shores, and spin on a thousand quays, And tho’ we are truant with all the winds, and gipsy with ail the seas, We are touched to tears, as the heart is touched by the sound of an ancient tune, At the name of the isle in the Western seas with the rose on her breast of June.

And It’s, O for a glimpse of England, and the buds that her garden yields, The delicate scent where other hedges wind, and the shimmering green of her fields, The roll of her downs and tho lull of her streams, and the grace of her dewdrenched lawns. And the calm of her shores where tbe waters wash rose-tinged with her thousand dawns. And it’s, O for a glimpse of London town, tho’ it be thro' the fog and tbe rain. The loud-thronged streets and the glittering shops, the pageant of pomp and pain; And it’s, O for a sight, tho' it be in a dream, of tbe Briton's beacon and pride— The eold, grey Abbey which guards our ghosts on Thames’ sacred side. But, 10. we have buried our fathers here, and here we have reared our sons. These are our Britains. and here the word of the British people runs; Wherefore the while we call you Home, ami dream of your gentle shires, Wc are rooted here by the smile of our babes and the pilgrim dust of our sires. Out of the grave our fathers reach dead hands to hold us here, And never we open the earth with tears but the land becomes more dear— Sweet with memory, brave with love, and proud with the hope ahead That our sous shall be stronger, our homes more fair, when we go down to the dead. Loved, yon are loved Cr England, and over that love endures; But we must have younger visions, and mightier dreams than yours: Cleaner Londons and wider' fields, amt a statelier bridge to span The gulf which severs the rich and poor in the brotherly ranks of Man. Yet with the bolder vision, we cleave to you, look to yon still, That you gather our scattered toil and bind our strength in a single will: That you build with us out of the coasts of the earth, a realm, a race, and a rede That shall govern the peace of the world and serve the humblest State In her need. Haply we are but tools in the hand of a Power we do not know, And not for ourselves we plough the waste, and not for ourselves we sow; Yet by the vision that leads us ou to the goal of a single State, We are blest that our own great weal Is woofed with the strands of eternal Fate. Come, let us walk together, we who must follow one gleam. Come, let us link our labours, and tell each other onr dream; Bhnkeepenre'a tougue for our eonnsete, and Nelson’s heart tor our task.— Shall we not answer an one strong ma* to the things that the pooplco aak?