Page:The Seven Seas (Kipling, 1896).djvu/35

Rh HONG-KONG

Hail, Mother! Hold me fast; my Praya sleeps

Under innumerable keels to-day.

Yet guard (and landward), or to-morrow sweeps

Thy warships down the bay!

HALIFAX

Into the mist my guardian prows put forth,

Behind the mist my virgin ramparts lie,

The Warden of the Honour of the North,

Sleepless and veiled am I!

QUEBEC AND MONTREAL

Peace is our portion. Yet a whisper rose,

Foolish and causeless, half in jest, half hate.

Now wake we and remember mighty blows,

And, fearing no man, wait!

VICTORIA

From East to West the circling word has passed,

Till West is East beside our land-locked blue;

From East to West the tested chain holds fast,

The well-forged link rings true!