The Silent Crowd
(February 2nd, 1901.)
FOR a pageant do you wait?
Quiet crowd, mourning crowd.
For a solemn Hearse of State,
With a velvet pall and plumes,
Sable splendour of the tombs,
For the Queen,
Victoria! Victoria!
See! The carriage of a gun,
And a Coffin set thereon,
Comes the Queen!
Ave Regina Gloria!
Solemn silence for the Queen.
'Neath this Flag a sailor dies,
On the wave;
'Neath this Flag a soldier lies,
For his grave.
And the Queen of both was she,
As she willed, so let it be;
In her great simplicity,
And her spotless purity,
Comes the Queen,
Empress-Queen!
The Sailor's Queen went through her Fleet,
Her Last Review:
The cannon rent the sky,
The flags were half-mast high.
There were no cheers,
But only tears,
As she went by.
The Soldier's Queen goes to her grave,
In simplest state.
See! The carriage of a gun,
With a Coffin set thereon,
Grave and great,
And a pure white gleaming Pall.
A white Pall for the Woman,
And a gold Crown for the Queen,
And a Coffin for the Human,
To hide the fleshly screen.
So simple! This is all,
Our great Queen's Funeral.
But the Kings of many lands,
And the Emperors from afar,
Mourners are.
Solemn silence for the Queen,
Toll the bells, let music play
To the pulse of muffled drums.
See! The white Crowned Coffin comes,
And the cannon say their say.
Tears in silence for our Queen
On her way.
On her path without returning,
Living silence for our Queen.
Through our bitter tears and burning,
Let us pray,
Ave Regina Gloria!
Victoria! Victoria!
Loved for aye!