Prizes Poem.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3366, 6 October 1879, Page 3

Prizes Poem.

The following is the cantata given at the opening of the Sydney Exhibition. The words are by Henry Kendall, and the music by Senor Giorza :— Part I.

SongS of morning, with yonr breath Sing the darkness now to death — Kad&ut river, beaming bay, Fair as Summer shine to-day— Flying torrent, falling slope, Wear the faco as bright as Hope— Wind and woodland, hill and sea, Lift yonr voices - sing for glee ! Greet the guests your fame has won— Put your brightest garments on. Loj they come - the Lords unknown, Sons of Peace, from overy zoilo ! See above our waves unfurled All tho flags of all the world! North and South and West and East

Gather in to grace our Feast. Shining nations I lot them see How like England wo can be; Mighty nations! let them view Sons of generous sires in you. By the days that sonnd afar, Sound, and shine like star by star; By tho grand old years aflame With the fires of England's fame— Heirs of those who fought for right When tho world's wronged face was whiteMeet these guests yonr fortune sends, As your fathers met their friends; Let the beauty of your race Glow like morning in your face. Part 11. Where now a radiant city stands, The dark oak used to wave, The Elfin harp of lonely lands Above tho wild man's grave, Through windless woods, one clear, sweet stream (Sing soft and veiy low), . Stole like the river of a dream, A hundred years ago. Upon tho bills that blaze to-day With splendid dome and spire, The naked hunter tracked his prey And slumbered by|hia fire. Within the sonnd "of shipless seas Tho wild rose used to blow About tho feet of royal trees, A hundred years ago. AH! haply, on some mossy slope, Against tho shining springs, In. those old days the Angel Hope Sat down with folded wings; Perhaps she touched in. dreams sublime, In glory and in glow, The skirts of this resplendent time, A hundred years ago.

Part 111. A gracious morning on tho hills of wet, And wind, and mist, her glittering feet has set; Th.o life of light aud lieat have chased away Australia's dark mysterious yesterday. A great, glad glory now flows down and shines On gold green lands where waved funereal pines.

And honco a fair dream goes before our gaze, And lifts the skirts of the hereafter days, And sees afar, as dreams alone can see, The Bpleudid marvel of the yeais to be. ■ Part IV.

Father, All Bountiful, humbly wo bend to Thee; Heads ar» uncovered in eight of Thy face. Here in the flow of tho Psalm's that ascend to Thee, Teach us to live for the light of Thy grace. Here, in the pause of the anthems of praiso to thee,. Master and Maker—pre-eminent friend— Teach us to look to Thee—give all our days to Thee, Now and for evermore, world without end!