d
--_Draw me near!_--
Mother of half the rolling world,
And O, so little and gray,
The first time I found you
Was when I turned away.

_Over yon green water
Sussex lies.
But the slow mists gather
In our eyes.
England, little island
--God, how dear!--
Fold me in your mighty arms,
Draw me near._

Little tawny roofs of home,
Nestling in the gray,
Where the smell of Sussex loam
Blows across the bay ...
Fold me, teach me, draw me close,
Lest in death I say
The first time I loved you
Was when I turned away.

A SALUTE FROM THE FLEET

I

_The Guns of H.M.S. Royal Sovereign_

Ocean-mother of England, thine is the crowning acclaim.
Here, in the morning of battle, from over the world and beyond,
Here, by our fleets of steel, silently foam into line
Fleets of our glorious dead, thy shadowy oak-walled ships.
Mother, for O, thy soul must speak thro' our iron lips!
How should we speak to the ages, unless with a word of thine?
Utter it, Victory! Let thy great signal flash thro' the flame!
Answer, _Bellerophon_, _Marlborough_, _Thunderer_, _Condor_,
respond!

II

_The Guns of H.M.S. Majestic_

Out of the ages we speak unto you, O ye ages to be.
Rocks of Sevastopol, echo our thunder-word, bruit it afar.
Roll it, O Mediterranean, round by Gibraltar again.
Buffet it, Porto Bello, back to the Nile once more.
Answer it, great St. Vincent! Answer it, Elsinore,
Buffet it back from your crags and roll it over the main!
Heights of Quebec, O hear and re-echo it back to the Baltic Sea!
Answer it, _Camperdown_! Answer it, answer it, _Trafalgar_!

III

_The Guns of H.M.S. Rainbow_

How should we speak to the ages, if not with a word of thine,
Maker of cloud and harvest, foam and the sea-bird's wing,
Ocean-Mother of England and all things living and free?
Deep that wast moved by the Spirit to bloom with the first white morn,
Mother of Light and Freedom, mother of hopes unborn,
Speak, O world-wide welder of nations, O Soul of the sea!
Thine was the watchword that called us of old o'er the gray sky-line:
Lift thy stormy salute. It is freedom and peace that we bring.

IV

_The Guns of H.M.S. Victory_

Therefore on thee we call, O Mother, for we are thy sons.
Speak, with thy world-wide voice, O wake u