THE NATIVE-BORN. WE'VE drunk to the Queen-God bless her!- And the Cross swings low to the morn, Last toast, and of obligation, A health to the Native-born! They change their skies above them, Of the spring in the English lanes, They passed with their old-world legendsTheir tales of wrong and dearth Our fathers held by purchase, But we by the right of birth; Our heart's where they rocked our cradle, Our love where we spent our toil, And our faith and our hope and our honour We pledge to our native soil! I charge you charge your glasses- To the last least lump of coral That none may stand outside, To the hush of the breathless morning To the Sons of the Golden South. To the Sons of the Golden South, (Stand up!) And the life we live and know, Let a fellow sing o' the little things he cares about, If a fellow fights for the little things he cares about With the weight of a single blow! To the smoke of a hundred coasters, To the rain that never chills— And the children nine and ten, (Stand up!) Let a fellow sing o' the little things he cares about, If a fellow fights for the little things he cares about With the weight of a two-fold blow! To the far-flung fenceless prairie Where the quick cloud-shadows trail, To the home of the floods and thunder, To the lift of the great Cape combers, To the last and the largest Empire, To our dear dark foster-mothers, To the heathen songs they sung To the heathen speech we babbled Ere we came to the white man's tongue. To the cool of our deep verandas To the blaze of our jewelled main, To the night, to the palms in the moonlight, And the fire-fly in the cane! To the hearth of our people's people— To the Power-house of the Line! We've drunk to the Queen-God bless her!- (And we hope he'll understand). A health to the Native-born, (Stand up!) All bound to sing o' the little things we care about, All bound to fight for the little things we care about With the weight of a six-fold blow! By the might of our cable-tow, (Take hands!) |