{
ODE FOR COMMONWEALTH DAY
Awake! Arise! The wings of dawn
Are beating at the Gates of Day!
The morning star hath been withdrawn,
The silver vapours melt away!
Rise royally, Sun, and crown
The shoreward billow, streaming white,
The forelands and the mountains brown,
With crested light;
Flood with soft beams the valleys wide,
The mighty plains, the desert sand,
Till the New Day hath won for bride
This Austral land!
Are beating at the Gates of Day!
The morning star hath been withdrawn,
The silver vapours melt away!
Rise royally, Sun, and crown
The shoreward billow, streaming white,
The forelands and the mountains brown,
With crested light;
Flood with soft beams the valleys wide,
The mighty plains, the desert sand,
Till the New Day hath won for bride
This Austral land!
Free-born of Nations, Virgin white,
Not won by blood nor ringed with steel,
Thy throne is on a loftier height,
Deep-rooted in the Commonweal!
Not won by blood nor ringed with steel,
Thy throne is on a loftier height,
Deep-rooted in the Commonweal!
