Page:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu/251

Deep calleth unto deep;
In happy unison the waters roll
About the channelled earth;
Beneath the sun-scorched steep,
Around the ice-embattled Pole,
They chant one anthem from creation's birth,
Still testifying—to the eternal sun:
"For power and for glory we are one."

Firm-rooted thrives the oak;
In goodly fellowship its parts endure,
Each minister to each;
From lashing—tempest's stroke
In winter's icy grasp secure,
Still eloquent the genial law to teach—
"So sun and cloud their timely succour give,
In loyal brotherhood we stand and live."

So may our England stand,
Fruitful, strong-rooted, fair in branch and stem,
A full and perfect whole;
Such as assailing hand
May not provoke or dare contemn,
Or foul the calm that marks her mild control;
With one strong will confronting all mischance,—
Her peace sure warrant for the world's advance.

For strong and staunch and true,
Strongest in peril, true to loftiest ends,
For freedom and for right,
She the world's champion grew,
And still the freeman's cause defends;