O PEOPLE of this favoured land Within this peaceful Orbit met, We strike the chords with trembling hand, The voice within us falters yet: While on this point of time we stand, Shall we remember or forget? We must remember those good days When first we bade the Nations fill The fairy Halls we dared to raise, By Genius wed to earnest Will, -- And all was pleasure, power, and praise, The fair reward of toil and skill. So let this gracious memory veil From present thoughts the later woe, Now that the blood-red clouds grow pale, Now that no more the trumpets blow, -- No more beneath the fiery hail Children in terror come and go. Be this a feast of Hope! the flowers Of Spring the waste of War repair: The quiet work of happier hours Dispels the load of human care: For Industry and Art are Powers That know no End and no Despair. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GOOD AND BAD LUCK by HEINRICH HEINE AT MIDSUMMER by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON NIOBE: THE GODS' CHILDREN by AESCHYLUS RUINED CHURCH by F. W. BATESON UNDER THE TREES by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH TO ROBERT SOUTHEY by MARIA GOWEN BROOKS OLD LOVES by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON A COMMENT ON COMMENT IN GENERAL CONFESSION OF SINS, IN CHURCH LITURGY by JOHN BYROM |