Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/46
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10
The Battle of the Free.
England! where yon eagles glance
Stands the chivalry of France!
Oh, England! ne’er on battle plain
Shalt thou meet such foes again.
These are they who oft have tried
Thy mettle in the battle’s tide;
These are they whose Eagles flew
O’er the plain of Waterloo;
Whose unsurrendering warriors fell
To shield the chief they loved so well.
England, exult!
For thine ancient enemy is gathering unto thee,
To fight with thy children in the Battle of the Free.
Oh, England! those whose courage
Thy fathers oft have tried;—
The French—thine ancient foemen,
Will battle at thy side.
They are coming—they are coming—
To mingle their Eagles with the banners of the sea,
And to fight in the Battle of the Free.
Stands the chivalry of France!
Oh, England! ne’er on battle plain
Shalt thou meet such foes again.
These are they who oft have tried
Thy mettle in the battle’s tide;
These are they whose Eagles flew
O’er the plain of Waterloo;
Whose unsurrendering warriors fell
To shield the chief they loved so well.
England, exult!
For thine ancient enemy is gathering unto thee,
To fight with thy children in the Battle of the Free.
Oh, England! those whose courage
Thy fathers oft have tried;—
The French—thine ancient foemen,
Will battle at thy side.
They are coming—they are coming—
To mingle their Eagles with the banners of the sea,
And to fight in the Battle of the Free.
To arms! To arms!
When Barbarian Armies roll,
Countless, from the Northern pole,
To battle with the Eagle and the Lion of the Sea;
When the deadly fight is raging,—the death fight that must be,
Between Liberty and Serfdom, ere the nations shall be free,—
When the shattered failing peoples look with trembling hope to thee:
Then, England, call thy children forth,
From East and West, and South and North,—
From every land of free-born men
Where thou hast planted liberty;—
When Barbarian Armies roll,
Countless, from the Northern pole,
To battle with the Eagle and the Lion of the Sea;
When the deadly fight is raging,—the death fight that must be,
Between Liberty and Serfdom, ere the nations shall be free,—
When the shattered failing peoples look with trembling hope to thee:
Then, England, call thy children forth,
From East and West, and South and North,—
From every land of free-born men
Where thou hast planted liberty;—