Page:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu/80

 Lo, ye have built your city white Where once a little fort was raised, And where the lumbering zeekoe grazed Your Noël carols ring to-night.

And where a day's march could not span, A little hour will set you down In comfort in your Simon's Town, Without a tear for beast or man.

From here to yon far river's flow Your Royal flag is floating free; 'Twas Cromwell's flag we met at sea, When Tromp and Blake fought long ago.

How far anon your way may bend, The Book of Fate alone foretells; Mayhap your steel-drawn parallels Will bind these countries end to end.

How far ye go in days to be, I know not; but in days gone by, Behold! the light in yon dark sky Was kindled by our folk and me.

Ye may forget! In this large day What boots a little fort or kraal, With teeming street and window'd wall, And crowded wharves of Table Bay?

But this I say, and this I know, Whatever scribes may think or write,— Behold, behind one man is Night, And from one man the Tale must How."