WHAT THE PEOPLE SAID
[June 21st, 1887]
By the well, where the bullocks go
Silent and blind and slow—
By the field, where the young corn dies
In the face of the sultry skies,
They have heard, as the dull Earth hears
The voice of the wind of an hour,
The sound of the Great Queen's voice:—
"My God hath given me years,
"Hath granted dominion and power:
"And I bid you, O Land, rejoice."
And the Ploughman settles the share
More deep in the grudging clod;
For he saith:—"The wheat is my care
"And the rest is the will of God.
"He sent the Mahratta spear
"As He sendeth the rain,
"And the Mlech, in the fated year,
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