PROCEEDINGS FOR 1909 XXIII 



Guarded and tended with winter and summer, sword of lightning and food of rain, 

 This, our Land, where the twin-born peoples, youngest of Nations, await their 

 crown. 



Now, in the dawn of a Nation's glory, now, in the passionate youth of Time, 



Wide-thrown portals, infinite visions, splendours of knowledge, dreams from afar, 



Seas, that toss in their limitless fury, thunder of cataracts, heights sublime, 



Mock us, and dare us, to do and inherit, to mount up as eagles and grasp at the 

 star. 



Blow on us. Breath of the pitiless passion that pulses and throbs in the heart of 

 the sea! 

 Smite on us. Wind of the night-hidden Arctic! breathe on us. Breath of the 

 languorous South! 

 Here, where ye gather to conflict and triumph, men shall have manhood, Man shall 

 be free; 

 Here hath he shattered the yoke of the tyrant ; free as the winds are the words 

 of his mouth. 



Voice of the infinite solitude, speak to us! Speak to us, Voice of the mountain and 

 plain! 

 Give us the dreams which the lakes are dreaming — lakes with bosoms all white 

 in the dawn; 

 Give us the thoughts of the deep-browed mountains, thoughts that will make us as 

 gods to reign; 

 Give us the calm that is pregnant with action — calm of the hills when night is 

 withdrawn. 



Brothers, who crowd to the golden portals — portals which God has opened wide — 

 Shake off the dust from your feet as ye enter; gird up your loins, and pass 

 within : 



Cringing to no man, go in as brothers; mount up to kingship, side by side: 



Night is behind us, Day is before us, victories wait us, heights are to win. 



God, then, uplift us! God, then, uphold us! Great God, throw wider the bounds 

 of Man's thought! 

 Gnaws at our heart-strings the hunger for action; burns like a desert the thirst 

 in our soul: 

 Give us the gold of a steadfast endeavour; give us the heights which our fathers 

 have sought: 

 Though we start last in the race of the Nations, give us the power to be first 

 at the goal. 



The meeting was then adjourned to the evening. 



