Page:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu/197

 O shall thy exiled son not bless Those hills and dales of thine, where first He roamed a careless child; where burst Thy tropic splendour on his eye; Where days were spent, whose mem'ries lie Deep 'neath all afterthought and care, Yet rise more buoyant than the air, And float o'er all his days? O home Of beauty rare, where I did roam In childhood's golden days, my prayer For thee soars through this northern air.

Land of "Good Hope," thy future lies Bright 'fore my vision as thy skies! O Africa! long lost in night, Upon the horizon gleams the light Of breaking dawn. Thy star of fame Shall rise and brightly gleam; thy name Shall blaze on hist'ry's later page; Thy birth-time is the last great age; Thy name has been slave of the world; But when thy banner is unfurled, Triumphant Liberty shall wave That standard o'er foul slav'ry's grave, And earth, decaying earth, shall see Her proudest, fairest child in thee! William Rodger Thomson.