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(Song for Dominion Day)
TOPPING the hill, the long white road | |
| Shimmers in Summer heat. | |
| What shall I find beyond the rise? | |
| Peace and plenty to glad mine eyes, | |
| Sorrow, or black Defeat? | 5 |
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| All the way I have come, the grain | |
| Swayed in the languid air, | |
| Clover blushed in a hundred meads, | |
| Dew-drops shone like the diamond beads | |
| Fairies are wont to wear. | 10 |
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| Even the rain on my well-browned face | |
| Came but to bless and cheer. | |
| There were song-sparrows whistling gay | |
| All along the celestial way. | |
| Roses were blooming near. | 15 |
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| And far away on the snow-capped seas, | |
| Where the porpoise rolls and the petrel runs, | |
| The Red Cross snaps in the mounting breeze | |
| From the low grey ships with the gleamimg guns, | |
| —So I journey on to the distant hill, | 20 |
| And never a foeman bars my will. | |
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| Over the rise the way is lost. | |
| Still can my spirit sing. | |
| Over the rise on the road I fare | |
| Are bobolinks in the sunlit air, | 25 |
| And swallows upon the wing. | |
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| Peace and roses will joy my soul, | |
| And in the opal morn, | |
| Still shall I see the elm-trees fair, | |
| Still shall I see the Summer air | 30 |
| Swaying the golden corn. | |
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| While far away by The Lizard light | |
| Where the gale-lashed billow in fury runs | |
| The Red Cross snaps in the stormy night | |
| From the ghostly ships with the ghostly guns. | 35 |
| —The white road over the distant hill | |
| Is mine, for a peaceful journey still. | |
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