 | 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition |  |
QUEEN VICTORIA.
—20th JUNE, 1886
Queen of a nation's choice,
Queen of a vaster earth
Than the orb which obeyed the Cæsar's voice,
Where the eagles carried dearth—
It is well that thy people should rejoice,
In the Guardian of the Hearth;
Altar and shrine,
Castle and home,
Thou hast made the cottage these and thine,
And as safe as the palace dome,
Till the darkest portals ope and shine,
In the happier days that come.
Queen of a vaster earth
Than the orb which obeyed the Cæsar's voice,
Where the eagles carried dearth—
It is well that thy people should rejoice,
In the Guardian of the Hearth;
134
Castle and home,
Thou hast made the cottage these and thine,
And as safe as the palace dome,
Till the darkest portals ope and shine,
In the happier days that come.
Queen for nigh fifty years,
Queen of a willing realm,
Thou hast shared thy subjects hopes and fears,
And stood steadfast at the helm—
Thou hast wiped away all the sufferer's tears,
When the storm would overwhelm;
Woman and tried,
Sister and true,
Thou hast halved the sorrows that sorely plied,
As if trouble were thy due—
Thou hast doubled the joys that would have died,
In a heaven no longer blue.
Queen of a willing realm,
Thou hast shared thy subjects hopes and fears,
And stood steadfast at the helm—
Thou hast wiped away all the sufferer's tears,
When the storm would overwhelm;
Woman and tried,
Sister and true,
Thou hast halved the sorrows that sorely plied,
As if trouble were thy due—
Thou hast doubled the joys that would have died,
In a heaven no longer blue.
Queen of the loftiest line,
Queen by no foreign art,
By the gifts that engather and entwine,
The rude bosoms that else might part—
And enthroned by a tender right Divine,
In the love of each loyal heart;
Honoured by all,
Ruling as Guelf,
And yet ruled as thy servants' crownéd thrall,
With a hate of the gilded pelf,
That has made the mightiest sceptre small—
And the Sovereign of thyself.
Queen by no foreign art,
By the gifts that engather and entwine,
The rude bosoms that else might part—
And enthroned by a tender right Divine,
In the love of each loyal heart;
Honoured by all,
Ruling as Guelf,
And yet ruled as thy servants' crownéd thrall,
With a hate of the gilded pelf,
That has made the mightiest sceptre small—
And the Sovereign of thyself.
Queen of the earth and sea,
Queen of the larger race,
That has flashed on the wildest wood and lea
The delight of freedom's face,
And has rolled the thunder of its plea
To the tyrant's farthest place;
Tighten the band,
Girding thy State,
With the woman's heart and the woman's hand,
That with Royal purpose mate,—
That are still the bulwarks of our land,
And have grown with Britain great.
Queen of the larger race,
That has flashed on the wildest wood and lea
The delight of freedom's face,
And has rolled the thunder of its plea
To the tyrant's farthest place;
Tighten the band,
Girding thy State,
With the woman's heart and the woman's hand,
That with Royal purpose mate,—
That are still the bulwarks of our land,
And have grown with Britain great.
| 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition | |