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

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;