AUSTRALIA! land of lonely lake <br /> And serpent-haunted fen; <br />Land of the torrent and the fire <br /> And forest-sundered men: <br />Thou art not now as thou shalt be <br /> When the stern invaders come, <br />In the hush before the hurricane, <br /> The dread before the drum. <br />A louder thunder shall be heard <br /> Than echoes on thy shore, <br />When o’er the blackened basalt cliffs <br /> The foreign cannon roar— <br />When the stand is made in the sheoaks’ shade <br /> When heroes fall for thee, <br />And the creeks in gloomy gullies run <br /> Dark crimson to the sea: <br /> <br />When under honeysuckles gray, <br /> And wattles’ swaying gold, <br />The stalwart arm may strike no more, <br /> The valiant heart is cold— <br />When thou shalt know the agony, <br /> The fever, and the strife <br />Of those who wrestle against odds <br /> For liberty and life: <br /> <br />Then is the great Dominion born, <br /> The seven sisters bound, <br />From Sydney’s greenly wooded port <br /> To lone King George’s Sound— <br />Then shall the islands of the south, <br /> The lands of bloom and snow, <br />Forth from their isolation come <br /> To meet the common foe. <br /> <br />Then, only then—when after war <br /> Is peace with honour born, <br />When from the bosom of the night <br /> Comes golden-sandalled morn, <br />When laurelled victory is thine, <br /> And the day of battle done, <br />Shall the heart of a mighty people stir, <br /> And Australia be as one.<br /><br />James Lister Cuthbertson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/australian-federata/
