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<h2 id="AUSTRALIAS_CALL_TO_ARMS">AUSTRALIA'S CALL TO ARMS.</h2> By John B. O'Hara, M.A. (By kind permission of the Author.) <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> Sons of ocean-girdled islands, Where the southern billows sigh, Wake! arise! the dread Bellona Speeds her chariot through the sky; Yea, the troubled star of danger On Britannia shineth down— Wake! arise! maintain her glory And renown, and renown! </div> <div class="stanza"> In the hour of Britain's peril Shall we falter, while the fires Still are glowing on our altars From the ashes of our sires?[50] Ho! brave hearts, for Britain's honour, For the lustre of her crown, Wake! arise! maintain her glory And renown, and renown! </div> <div class="stanza"> Ye are children of a nation, Ye are scions of the sires That of old were in the vanguard Of the world's wide empires! With the spirit of your fathers, With the fulness of their fame, Wake! arise! maintain the honour Of her name, of her name! </div> <div class="stanza"> Long to Britain may "the crimson Thread of kinship" bind our wings!— Crimson thread that slowly slackens As the newer race upsprings: Sons of heroes, men of courage That reverse could never tame, Wake! arise! maintain the glory Of her name, of her name! </div> <div class="stanza"> See! the star of ancient Britain, That hath never known decline, By your valour lit up newly, With a glow of fiercer shine, O'er the burning sands of Afric, With your loyalty aflame; Once again maintain the glory Of her name, of her name! </div> </div> <hr class="chap" /> [51] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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