The Worldlings

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 5, 1 February 1900, Page 45

The Worldlings

A Nations Litany

We have given our span to the gods of our hand, To the gods of the world and tho flesh ; We have wrought our gods of human sods, And chain]) to create them afresh. They come and go as the streams that flow And the future glides to the past ; For man shall not keep whsit the gods would rosip When they gather their great repast.

Two thousand years we have paid to our gods Since the chariots rolled in Rome ; And a hundred years in joy and tears Since we called Old England Home. Cycle, olympiad, lustre, days of a year we know, But we look to a far horizon a hundred years sigo. And thus, and thus, for ever will the world of man roll on, As it was in the days of our fathers, as it was in tho ages gone

Oh, the sapped and sated hung'rers ! Oh, the uusated hungering scores ! That have taken their part in the triumphs, That strive in the worldly wars. We have given our span to the gods of our hand, To the gods of the selfish flesh ; We have paid our price to the world and viee — We shall pay for our life afresh.

Guy H. -ScHOLEFiEiii).