Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. V. Browning to Rupert Brooke

Andrew Lang (1844–1912)

Advance, Australia

On the offer of help from the Australians after the fall of Khartoum

SONS of the giant Ocean isle

In sport our friendly foes for long,

Well England loves you, and we smile,

When you outmarch us many a while,

So fleet you are, so keen and strong.

You, like that fairy people set

Of old in their enchanted sea

Far off from men, might well forget

An elder nation’s toil and fret,

Might heed not aught but game and glee.

But what your fathers were you are

In lands the fathers never knew,

’Neath skies of alien sign and star

You rally to the English war;

Your hearts are English, kind and true.

And now, when first on England falls

The shadow of a darkening fate,

You hear the Mother ere she calls,

You leave your ocean-girdled walls,

And face her foemen in the gate.