And wherefore have they come, this warlike band, <br />That o'er the ocean many a weary day <br />Have tossed; and now beside Suakim's Bay, <br />With faces stern and resolute, do stand, <br />Waking the desert's echoes with the drum -- <br />Men of Australia, wherefore have ye come? <br />To keep the Puppet Khedive on the throne, <br />To strike a blow for tyranny and wrong, <br />To crush the weak and aid the oppressing strong! <br />Regardless of the hapless Fellah's moan, <br />To force the payment of the Hebrew loan, <br />Squeezing the tax like blood from out the stone? <br /> <br />And fair Australia, freest of the free, <br />Is up in arms against the freeman's fight; <br />And with her mother joined to crush the right -- <br />Has left her threatened treasures o'er the sea, <br />Has left her land of liberty and law <br />To flesh her maiden sword in this unholy war. <br /> <br />Enough! God never blessed such enterprise -- <br />England's degenerate Generals yet shall rue <br />Brave Gordon sacrificed, when soon they view <br />The children of a thousand deserts rise <br />To drive them forth like sand before the gale -- <br />God and the Prophet! Freedom will prevail.<br /><br />Andrew Barton Paterson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/el-mahdi-to-the-australian-troops/
