Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918.

By Arthur Maquarie

108 . Britannia’s Throne

MIRROR of the trackless sky,

Priestess of its changing mood,

Ere thy shores were piled on high

Thou didst feel God’s Spirit brood;

Thou didst hear His word alone;—

Be thou still Britannia’s throne.

From thy deeps the creeping things

Spread through cove and brook and fen,

Changing scales for soaring wings

And the mould of mortal men;

From thy womb the world hath grown!

Be thou still Britannia’s throne.

Then among the happier ones

Filing in millennial train,

Thou didst make us favoured sons,

Teaching us to rule and reign:

Thou didst call us for thine own—

Be thou still Britannia’s throne.

Mighty Mistress, thou didst school

England’s heart in all thy ways;

May she learn no nicer rule

In the ease of after days;

For the greatness we have known

Be thou still Britannia’s throne.

For the passion of our plea,

For the memory of our brave,

For the fights we fought for thee,

For the bones that thou dost lave,

For the love that we have shown!

Be thou still Britannia’s throne.