Page:The Secret Key and Other Verses - Evans.djvu/34

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12
ODE FOR COMMONWEALTH DAY
O Thou, tear whom the strong have wrought,
And poets sung with souls aflame,
Born of long hope and patient thought,
    A mighty name–
We pledge tbee faith that shall not swerve,
Our Land, Our Lady, breathing high
The thought that makes it lore to serve,
    And life to die!

Now are thy maidens linked in love
Who erst have striven for pride of place;
Lifted all meaner thoughts above
They greet thee, one in heart and race:
She, in whose sun-lit coves of peace
The navies of the world may rest,
And bear her wealth of snowy fleece
    Northward and West;
And she, whose corn and rock-hewn gold
Built that Queen City of the South,
Where the lone billow swept of old
    Her harbour-mouth;

And the blithe Sun-maid, in whose veins
For ever burns the tropic fire,
Whose cattle roam a thousand plains
With opal and with pearl for tire;