Page:The Seven Seas (Kipling, 1896).djvu/29

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A SONG OF THE ENGLISH
7

Follow after—we are waiting, by the trails that we lost,
For the sounds of many footsteps, for the tread of a host.
Follow after—follow after—for the harvest is sown:
By the bones about the wayside ye shall come to your own!


When Drake went down to the Horn
And England was crowned thereby,
'Twixt seas unsailed and shores unhailed
Our Lodge—our Lodge was born
(And England was crowned thereby!)


Which never shall close again
By day nor yet by night,
While man shall take his life to stake
At risk of shoal or main
(By day nor yet by night),


But standeth even so
As now we witness here,
While men depart, of joyful heart
Adventure for to know
(As now bear witness here!)