Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/89

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Lo, Thou hast said: "When ye have toiled and tilled,    When ye have borne the heat, and wisely sown, And every corner of the vineyard filled     With goodly growth, the land shall be your own. Then shall your sons and your sons' sons rejoice.     Then shall the race speak with a conqueror's mouth; And all the world shall hearken to its voice,     And heed the great White Nation of the South."

And Thou hast said: "This, striving, shall ye do.    Be diligent to tend and guard the soil. If this great heritage I trust to you     Be worth the purchase of a meed of toil, Then shall ye not, at call of game or mart,     Forgo the labour of a single day. They spurn the gift who treasure but a part.     Guard ye the whole, lest all be cast away.

"Say, is My bounty worth the winning?" (Lord,    So hast Thou spoken. Humbly have we heard.) "No son of man is born who can afford   To pay Me tribute with an empty word. Guard ye the treasure if the gift be meet.    Win ye to strength and wisdom while ye may. For he who fears the burden and the heat    Shall gain the wages of a squandered day."