| |
| AS flow the rivers to the sea | |
| Adown from rocky hill or plain, | |
| A thousand ages toiled for thee | |
| And gave thee harvest of their gain; | |
| And weary myriads of yore | 5 |
| Dug out for thee earth’s buried ore. | |
| |
| The shadowy toilers for thee fought | |
| In chaos of primeval day | |
| Blind battles with they knew not what; | |
| And each before he passed away | 10 |
| Gave clear articulate cries of woe: | |
| Your pain is theirs of long ago. | |
| |
| And all the old heart sweetness sung, | |
| The joyous life of man and maid | |
| In forests when the earth was young, | 15 |
| In rumours round your childhood strayed: | |
| The careless sweetness of your mind | |
| Comes from the buried years behind. | |
| |
| And not alone unto your birth | |
| Their gifts the weeping ages bore, | 20 |
| The old descents of God on earth | |
| Have dowered thee with celestial lore: | |
| So, wise, and filled with sad and gay | |
| You pass unto the further day. | |
| |
