Page:Poems, Volume 1, Coates, 1916.djvu/159

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MEMORIAL ODE
137

It doth each sacrifice for thee repay,
Thou standest regnant and secure,
Thy hands extended to the helpless poor,
Thy war-like brows unbent, thine armor laid away.


To love devoutly is to pray.
O Land! for thee in thy victorious hour
We lift our souls in supplication,
That righteousness may sanctify thy power
And fill thee with that purer exaltation
Which bides with those who highest hests obey.
Oh, may the lips that praise thy strength,
Laud thee for justice, rather, and for truth,
Welling immediate from thy heart of youth,
To bless thy children first, and all mankind at length!