Page:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu/273

Hither came they—welcomed hither by the gallant Northern race
Whom they well might own for brethren, breast to breast in close embrace—
Those staunch darers of the waters who first broke the giant force
That would rule man's free convictions as the rider guides his horse;
Struggling and despairing never, till at length they gained the war—
Spain, the hope of priest-led tyrants; Holland, freedom's polar star.

Lo! such union of such nations! Gaze into the future's scope,
Not in vain name these their country land of soul-exalting hope!
Knowledge see they ever widening, man no longer scorning man;
Truth diffusing each to other, aiding the Creator's plan;
Breaking free from earthly fetters, giant souls of thoughtful men,
Meeting wisdom in their equals far beyond their former ken,
Wisdom which they erst deemed falsehood, hated with the hate of hell,
When their minds were cramped within them, shrunk in earth-pride's narrow shell.

Better were it had old ocean swept the wave-tossed ships away,
Than that from such large-souled fathers sprang the pigmies of to-day;