In earlier days, when still he wore
The coronet on princely brow,
With cross and fillet gilded o'er
And fleur-de-lys and arch that bore
The crested mound in golden show,
There came to him from northern strand,
With tears of parting from her land,
But a ringing welcome to hearth and home
In the land she fared to over the foam,
Beauty and sweetness in maiden-form;
And the gladsome clamour burst like a storm,
Pealing in greetings fervent and fleet,

As the thousands cheered in the crowded strect.
And the budding welcome has bloomed to love,
Fairer and richer as years rolled on,

Gleaming through trials that came to prove

How bright were the hues of the flower that shone

Rooted deep in a people's breast,

Lighting the darkness of sickness and fear,
When the gloom of a severed life seemed near,

Breathing the scent of a nation's prayer,
And a nation's gladness that filled the air
When the dawning of health brought rest.

III

We waited for carol of wedding-bell,

As the Firstborn ripened and grew:

But the voice on the breeze was a funeral-knell;
And the quickened heart of the land beat true.
To the throb of a mother's grief, and strong

Was the tightening clasp of a nation's troth,
True in the gladness and tears that belong
To palace and people alike, that both
On the threshold of feeling may meet, nor lone
Be the sorrow to bear when it smites the throne,
And the mingling of joys may flow deep

Birthday of blessings be held to-day,
Deeper be joys than they ever have been:

Fourfold the decades are passing away

Since she dawned on our love, to her crowning we pay Our welcome fourfold, Sovereign Lady and Queen.

IV

Whence, in the bounds of wide domains.
O'er which the flags of Britain float,
Come they whose loyalty maintains
An empire's rule on shores remote,
Eager to grace the pageantry of state
With loyal speech and trust inviolate?

To them sailed forth-where welcome could not fail-
Second in birth, in princely order prime,

Their Royal Guest, through southern calm, and gale
Of northern seas, and zones of varying clime,

Hasting, with loving Bride, to those who reach
Heart-tendrils clinging to the motherland,

And stretch with spiritual touch from each to each,

Though severing oceans roar from strand to strand,-
Empire, Dominion, Commonwealth, Estate,-

Names linked with ancient feud and peoples' hate,
Henceforth in heart and will confederate.

Let might be ancient order, love, the new:
Might, that but builds the outer forms of rule;
Love, that, an inner impulse spreading true,

From root to bud pours vigour deep and full, Nor leaves an empty bark to peel and mould From off the cankered cells its bands enfold. Come now, from lands to which the royal pair

From throne and realm brought greeting, e'en from those Where presence failed, but utterance flew to bear Goodwill and concord. Come, from arctic snows And tropic sand-drift, lands of pine and palm, Maple and fir; and where the fisher dwells Beside the lone Pacific; and where, calm,

The wave creeps round Comorin's Cape, or swells Beneath the storm that round the headland blows Which brave Da Gama weathered with his

V

prows.

Last of our Edwards, till-which Heaven delayFrom son to son the sceptre pass again,

And York's fair bud, blooming at full, display

Vigour and sweetness from ancestral strain, Stock of Bretwalda, Jarl, and Duke, and Thane, From Norseland creeks and garths of Aquitaine, Steeps of the vapoury west, and slopes of southern plain : Till then, in sheltering ward be growth matured, While frame and soul-as stem and bloom in flower

Grow fit for sun or storm to be endured

In empire's noontide hour.

As some fair orb, in galaxy of stars

That in one name link separate globes of light,

Some faintly glimmering, some surpassing bright,
So shine our Seventh Edward: while no clouds
Of hazy popular prejudice, like bars

Of marish-mists, hang forth their chilling shrouds
'Twixt kingly presence heightened to full glow

By kingly purpose, and the hearts that wait,
Still warm in unforgetfulness, to show

Resolve in acts that shall make England great.
E'en as the elder Edward, warrior born
Of scholar sire, our Alfred, ruled o'er lands

Welded in one, and realms by tumult torn
Knew passing peace: so, but in lasting bands
Of loving sway, not shadowed by the sword,

Be gathered Saxon, Angle, Dane and Jute; Still let brave Wales the spreading rule salute, And valiant Scots "choose Edward, sire and lord." More favoured he than that lone youth who died, Struck by a murderous blade, amid the strife Of church and realm, when factions raging wideGave death to him, the Martyr, but left life And rule to redeless boyhood-for he climbs

In the Confessor's seat, and wears his crown: Heir unto him who, growing in renown As saint and scholar through succeeding times, Poured Norman currents through the nation's heart, Norman himself in soul, in mingled veins

Only half Saxon: still he dwells apart

In mystic influence: paramount remains
His name at crowning; even from his shrine
Holding symbolic rule with staff and crown
And ring and braided tunic handed down,
And Laws upheld through many a kingly line.
And he who, chivalrous in soul and deed,

Waged war with stronger foes than alien powers-
Misrule, perverted Justice, Feudal Greed-
Within a people's will, in threatening hours,
Fencing his rule, lover of Eleanor,

Lover of England: he a brightness wears In which, the sparks of battle pale before

The glow that gathers strength through fostering years,

Of faith and honour, patience, wisdom, trust:

Still ours, though the First Edward sleeps in dust.
As if to show with what a tarnished gleam,
E'en in the concourse of a golden throng,
A lurid orb may dwindle till it seem

But as a foil to rays it hangs among,

Berkeley's pale victim lingers as a wraith, Death-doomed by dalliance, feud, and broken faith, By the drear dimness of all fires save hate, Heightening a father's sheen, and leading on Admiring eyes to rest upon a son

Among our sceptred Edwards justly great.

Yet, when the fields of Crecy and Poitiers
Have earned their meed, let still the thought prevail,
That even as love is the more excellent way,
Alliance wins where strife would only fail:
More lasting good to suffering England came,
From Flemish looms and appanage of trade
Than smoking fields of France and peace delayed
'Mid wasted wealth and villeinage afl .me.

Still, whatsoe'er the conflict, so the cause
Be just, O England, let thy sons renew

That strength wherewith thy yeomen, through just laws
Stalwart in freedom, on the foemen drew
The unerring bow-shaft, and that heart that dares,
Through fierce mêlée or tedious, long delays,
To press its end, that kindliness that bears
Goodwill to fallen in the midst of frays.

Not, as when warring claims of White and Red Cut rule in twain, and every sword-thrust played 'Twixt rival crowns the heated life-blood shed

Of subject hearts in hostile ranks arrayed—
Dark feud of York and Lancaster, delayed

Through fitful gleams of peace, by might and main,

When the Fourth Edward, strong from Tewkesbury, swayed A steadfast sceptre, to be dashed again

From out a boy king's grasp, and broken lie

'Neath Richmond's heel, at Bosworth's victory.

XLIII-C