Australia

WHAT can we give in return   
For her beauty and mystery   
 Of flowering forest, infinite plain,   
 Deep sky and distant mountain-chain,   
And her triumphant sea,           
Thundering old songs of liberty?   
  
Love—steadfast as her stars,   
And passionate as her sun,   
 And joyous as the winds, that fling   
 The golden petals of her spring           
By gully, spur, and run,   
On dreaming age, and little one:   
  
Courage—when courage fails   
In the blind smoke and pain   
 Of raging fire, and lurid sky,           
 And dumb thirst-driven agony—   
Till river and creek again   
Swirl seaward through the teeming rain.   
  
Faith—wild flower of the soul,   
Thrilling the breathless night           
 With fragrance, and the desolate ways   
 Where silence fears to whisper praise,   
With radiant delight   
Of wonder—worship in God’s sight.   
  
Duty—O great white stars,           
And glorious red cross, shine   
 On victory, when, rushing forth   
 Against the peril of the North,   
Australia’s battle-line   
Flings out Trafalgar’s deathless sign.