-stretched wings.

II

Music made of change and conquest, glory born of evil slain,
Stilled the discord, slew the darkness, bade the lights of tempest
wane,
Where the deathless dawn of England rose in sign that right should
reign.

Mercy, where the tiger wallowed mad and blind with blood and lust,
Justice, where the jackal yelped and fed, and slaves allowed it
just,
Rose as England's light on Asia rose, and smote them down to dust.

Justice bright as mercy, mercy girt by justice with her sword,
Smote and saved and raised and ruined, till the tyrant-ridden horde
Saw the lightning fade from heaven and knew the sun for God and
lord.

Where the footfall sounds of England, where the smile of England
shines,
Rings the tread and laughs the face of freedom, fair as hope
divines
Days to be, more brave than ours and lit by lordlier stars for
signs.

All our past acclaims our future: Shakespeare's voice and Nelson's
hand,
Milton's faith and Wordsworth's trust in this our chosen and
chainless land,
Bear us witness: come the world against her, England yet shall
stand.

Earth and sea bear England witness if he lied who said it; he
Whom the winds that ward her, waves that clasp, and herb and flower
and tree
Fed with English dews and sunbeams, hail as more than man may be.

No man ever spake as he that bade our England be but true,
Keep but faith with England fast and firm, and none should bid her
rue;
None may speak as he: but all may know the sign that Shakespeare
knew.

III

From the springs of the dawn, from the depths of the noon, from the
heights of the night that shine,
Hope, faith, and remembrance of glory that found but in England her
throne and her shrine,
Speak louder than song may proclaim them, that here is the seal of
them set for a sign.

And loud as the sea's voice thunders applause of the land that is
one with the sea
Speaks Time in the ear of the people that never at heart was not
inly free
The word of command that assures us of life, if we will but that
life shall be;

If the race that is first of the races of men who behold unashamed