Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/95

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��Elspeth Honeyman

Miss Elspeth Honeyman has very early in her career as a poet won wide distinction- The fourth stanza of her gripping poem, Out There was used by the United States Government, in their recent Liberty Loan campaign. And poems of hers have appeared in the London Spectator, the London Standard, the New York Times, etc. Canada s Answer was translated into French and distributed in France. Born in Ladnor, B.C., daughter of Mr and Mrs John Honeyman. Educated at All Hallows, Yale, B.C., and at the University of British Columbia. Miss Honeyman is still in her early twenties. Is living now in Vancouver.

CANADA S ANSWER

EAR, O Mother of Nations, in the battle of Right and Wrong,

The voice of your youngest nation, chanting her battle- song:

Blood of your best you gave us, gave it that we might

live. Blood of our best we offer, the best of our youth we

give. The price of a nation s manhood we offer to pay the

debt Did you dream, O Mother of Nations, that Canada could

forget ?

The price of a nation s manhood we have counted the bitter cost,

(For whom can we call the victor, if the battle be won or lost?)

We pay, and we pay it gladly ours is the Empire s need

And a broken word has never yet found place in Brit- tain s creed.

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