Page:Artabanzanus (Ferrar, 1896).djvu/37

To-day's effulgent brightness; in thine eyes
⁠Beholding peaceful pictures of delight:
Rejoicing still as we rejoiced so long;
⁠Victoria!
Deign but to hear and to approve our song.

'Full half a hundred years! since yesterday!
⁠They seem but halves of hours: yet in the time
What changes have been wrought! Still far away
⁠The things that gave us pain appear, and in their prime
Our joys are rich and fresh, revealing home and youth,
⁠And lov'd ones wreathed in beauty's smiles and charms
Of unforgotten sweetness, kindness, truth:
⁠Our parents' love, circled in sisters' arms,
Blessed by our brothers' voices, prayed for by friends,
⁠Far over half the world on waters glancing
In strange fantastic light, which neither ends
⁠By night nor day, this startled soul entrancing,
Borne like a floating shell. This is the history
⁠Of thousands of thy subjects, happy Queen,
Brought back again through memory's hidden mystery
⁠O noble Queen!
Be still to us what thou so long hast been!

'And yet, alas! how many have gone down
⁠Into the tomb who might have seen this day,
And shared in all our joy before thy crown;
⁠Slain by dark crime; by rude blasts swept away;
By reckless sailors dashed on rugged rocks;
⁠By war's fierce venom torn from love and home;
Or rent in twain by pitiless earthquake shocks;
⁠Or lost on trackless wastes, condemned to roam:
These are the shadows. If there hath been war,
⁠If hatred, if sedition, rule a part
In all thy wide domains, or if the car
⁠Of mad, revengeful slaughter wildly dart
Between us and our joys, thou'rt not to blame:
⁠Thy heart is peace; thy soul is good and pure;
To men's base passions we impute the shame.
⁠Thy pitying tears flow for them, we are sure;
Thy gentle bosom heaves in deep distress:
⁠Thy wish, if such might be, would quickly bring
An end to hate and lawless wickedness,
⁠O gentle Queen,
With which the nations ring!

'We change the theme. How shall we show our pleasure,
⁠Or how congratulate thee, true-hearted Queen?
We could not, were we rich, increase thy treasure,
⁠For all true happiness thou in full hast seen.
Shall we repeat, what tongues ne'er tire of telling,
⁠And sing thine empire's glories?—how on land