ANZAC DAY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2753, 24 April 1916, Page 3

ANZAC DAY

(25th April, 1915.) Eastward, o'er the dark Aegean, glide our ships on Anzac Day, 1 Spectral galleys, in the ; grey-light loom-. ing into.Suvla Bay;. Moving through the sacred, waters which the Royal Xerxes' crossed, ' ■ Where 1 the barks of Agamemnon with their Grecian heroes tossed. ' Still another race of heroes do these stately ships enfold, Each one bearing in its bosom, like the Trojan Horse of old, Armed men with hopes high-burning, beating hearts with eyes aglow, .Waiting for the silent signal, eager for ' tho fyay below. . • Steep the slopes of Gaba Tepe; sheer the cliffs of Sari Bair; Ghost-like glide the giant steamers, flashing in the searchlight's glare j From the beach-lined Turkish trenches ..shriek the rifles' of the foe; ' Screaming high above,' the shrapnel rains upon the boats below. : Oh, the. groans of stricken comrade as we meet thejiron-rain! Oh. the cheer of Maorilander as the narrow beach we gitin! Struggling through the churning waters, onwards rush we with the steel. Clear the corpse-strewn sands of foemen, upwards through the scrub we reel. Matted creeper, purple cistus, myrtle thickets, asphodel, Mingled with the dead and dying, clothe this sloping garden, Hell ; Upward, ever upward charging, soon we gain the beetling crest, Chase the flying foe to shelter ere we think of needed rest. . . Scream of conflict, clang,and clamour, flashing ,61661, and spurting flame, Oh, the joyous tattle-music! Oh, the glow of War's great game! Oh, the brave hearts, keen for Freedom, fighting in her sacred name, Dying for the deathless glory of a whole world freed from 6hame. Heights of 'Abraham! Troy! Where are ye? Where are all your glories now, Since our Southern Sons of Battle' set your laurels on their brow? Thricfl a thousand years have gone by, thrice a million suns have set— _ \. Since Achilles and brave Hector in, the shock of conflict met. But no greater deed of. daring, not one' action more sublime, E'er has echoed, ringing loudly, through the clanging aisles of Time, . • Than the one when stalwart Anzacs scaled the cliffs and fought the foe In the land of classic story where tho Thracian waters flow. —Cheyne.. Farnie. ,