Sir John Hanmer (1809–1881)

GREAT people, whom across the Atlantic seas,

Our thoughts, expanding with the space, behold;

And know thy starry front, serene and bold,

E’en as Orion, when the winters freeze;

Thy distance fades by changing moon’s degrees;

Peace hovers o’er the middle depths, to hold

On either side her scales of antique gold,

Spanning the depths: but not alone for these;

But, that ye come from an ancestral line

That hence departed, keeping freedom’s ways,

And speak the language that the band divine

And storied memories of great deeds did raise,

When the old world was wondrous; let the sign

Of love shine out betwixt us, in our days.