EIIR

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 724, 29 May 1953, Page 5

EIIR

DIEU DROIT ET MON

LORD: who unto this day Wast England’s guard and stay, Whose hand was seeh In days with sorrow fraught In days’ which came to naught, Our Guide in deed and thought, Save our new Queen!

Let us, who saw, who mourn Rich years of peace and corn Fed to the lean,. With waiting eyes that burn See the full years return, As pride, not toil, we spurn As does our Queen,

Keep safe within Thy hand All those that tend the land, Those the machine; Master, as servant, see The debt he owes to Thee, Not to himself-so we Best serve our Queen,

And, wrested from despair, We see the future fair As what had been, From steadfast mind and will And craftsman’s growing skill Great things achieved to fill Times of our Queen,

Now to our poets’ art Such purity impart And strength serene As showed us Greece’s heir When England's sons that were Made Europe bow to her, Of song the Queen,

In music where we thank, Slav, Teuton, Latin, Frank Let branches green Grow from our slenderer tree; And brush and chisel free From sloth; our arts shall be Crowns for our Queen.

Past far horizons now Sons toil our food to grow, Stronghanded, keen; Be of the ships the shield That bring the full, rich yield; And guard them in the field Far from their Queen

May England's cherished roleKeeper of man’s free soulCommand a scene Where petty parts are played By nations, men, afraid; May she stand undismayed, Even as our Queen;

Be joined in this great cause Those who debate our laws And scorn the mean; And those the page that fill With news of good or illSustain their judgment still To serve their Queen.

In war’s dark aftermath Keep strong the people's faith , "Gainst creeds unclean, Creeds that corrupt and waste And new creeds wildly based And old creeds grown debased. Guard Church and Queen.

Now, in a world distressed, The East! they cry, the West! May we between, Who sailed the world around Nor aught save Thee have found, Make this thine own, Thy ground; Reign o’er our Queen,

So in her joyous life Of mother, Queen, and wife Such gracious mien As England knew of old May we once more behold In days of strength ‘re-told, Days of our Queen.

Walter

Brookes