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Erase the Border Line! [poem by John Knight, 2 September 1899]

22 February 2015 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: A poem regarding the vote for the federation of the Australian colonies. Published in the Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 2 September 1899.]

Erase the Border Line!

[By John Knight.]

Men! if your hope is to bridge main with main,
Rise to this holy work, and be ye true,
Erase the border line! and forthwith hew
A pathway for yourselves, nor turn again,
While the winds whisper — “Onward! Federate!”
Stretches afar th’ untrodden wilderness,
Whence soft low voices ask — “What can ye less?
Arise! bind East to West and State to State!”

Lo! this spring morning comes with mute caress,
Declaring — “If ye wish to build a Name,
Building, with opened eyes, a lasting frame,
Work in the fine-wrought texture this word — Yes!”

Then, surely shall your dreams of greatness grow,
And growing, quicken to an ampler flow.

August 31, 1899.



Source:
Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Maryborough, Qld.), 2 September 1899, p. 3

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: federation of Australia, John Knight, poem, SourceTrove, year1899

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