 | English Roses |  |
OUR FRONTIER MEN.
With the meeting
Of the dusk and dawn I hear them,
And in silences am near them.
At the greeting
And the iron play of swords
Ringing round our battle lords,
There they stand
On their guard or bravely gallop,
Wardens of the world and English land,
Pioneers of English might,
English law and English light.
Where the Eskimo's adventuring shallop
Would not voyage, there they stay
Watchers of the night and day,
Sternly still,
Armoured in the justice that is power;
Or through parching
Wildernesses grimly marching
Seek to do God's grand and holy will,
While they bid the desert laugh and flower.
Of the dusk and dawn I hear them,
And in silences am near them.
At the greeting
And the iron play of swords
187
There they stand
On their guard or bravely gallop,
Wardens of the world and English land,
Pioneers of English might,
English law and English light.
Where the Eskimo's adventuring shallop
Would not voyage, there they stay
Watchers of the night and day,
Sternly still,
Armoured in the justice that is power;
Or through parching
Wildernesses grimly marching
Seek to do God's grand and holy will,
While they bid the desert laugh and flower.
Tall and stately,
Lo, they prize not petty spoiling
And demand no due but toiling
Spent sedately.
Conscious of a work in deeds,
Better than the strife of creeds
To be done;
They endure the heat and burden,
Wardens of the world and finely one
In their sufferings and their plan
To complete what God began,
Clothed in greatness as a proper guerdon.
Freedom is their breath, and force
From the Fountain's deeper source
Flows in veins
Channeled by the awful tide of Time;
And the ocean
With its boundless breadth and motion,
Nerves their hands for the imperial reins,
Weds their hearts to the imperial chime.
Lo, they prize not petty spoiling
And demand no due but toiling
Spent sedately.
Conscious of a work in deeds,
Better than the strife of creeds
To be done;
They endure the heat and burden,
Wardens of the world and finely one
In their sufferings and their plan
To complete what God began,
Clothed in greatness as a proper guerdon.
Freedom is their breath, and force
From the Fountain's deeper source
Flows in veins
Channeled by the awful tide of Time;
And the ocean
With its boundless breadth and motion,
Nerves their hands for the imperial reins,
Weds their hearts to the imperial chime.
Come their voices
With a cheery challenge falling
Far away, and at its calling
Earth rejoices.
They are very calm and strong,
And they hate the thought of wrong
Loving right;
Hand on blade or foot in stirrup,
Wardens of the world and men's delight,
Pioneers of precious truth
Giving back the old their youth.
Cry, as feeble as the nestling's chirrup,
Reaches them, and sends them forth
Champions of the South and North,
To redress
Outrages that else were borne in shame;
And the thunder
Of their horses' hoofs beats under
Evil, with the rule of righteousness,
In the dreadful and most Blessed Name.
With a cheery challenge falling
Far away, and at its calling
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They are very calm and strong,
And they hate the thought of wrong
Loving right;
Hand on blade or foot in stirrup,
Wardens of the world and men's delight,
Pioneers of precious truth
Giving back the old their youth.
Cry, as feeble as the nestling's chirrup,
Reaches them, and sends them forth
Champions of the South and North,
To redress
Outrages that else were borne in shame;
And the thunder
Of their horses' hoofs beats under
Evil, with the rule of righteousness,
In the dreadful and most Blessed Name.
High and solemn
Is their character and carriage,
Where the great and meek in marriage
Build one column.
Duty raises them as kings
Far above all meaner things,
To their charge—
Liberty, to serve the nations;
Wardens of the world, they keep the marge
Of our frontiers clear and just,
Equal to the awful trust
And lay charters on their fair foundations.
They are proudly bred and born
To a hope that were forlorn,
But for faith
In the mighty mission that they hold;
As appointed,
And with blood and fire anointed
To pursue no idle end or wraith,
Heaping up for others grain and gold.
Is their character and carriage,
Where the great and meek in marriage
Build one column.
Duty raises them as kings
Far above all meaner things,
To their charge—
Liberty, to serve the nations;
Wardens of the world, they keep the marge
Of our frontiers clear and just,
Equal to the awful trust
And lay charters on their fair foundations.
They are proudly bred and born
To a hope that were forlorn,
But for faith
In the mighty mission that they hold;
As appointed,
And with blood and fire anointed
To pursue no idle end or wraith,
Heaping up for others grain and gold.
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