Our Children’s Native Land [poem by Henry Parkes, 20 July 1841]

[Editor: This poem, by Henry Parkes (1815-1896), was published in the Australasian Chronicle (Sydney, NSW), 20 July 1841.]

Song. — Our Children’s Native Land.

Who here to night, when he was young,
Beside his father’s hearth,
Has ne’er breath’d forth some patriot song,
Some spirit strain of earth;
And warm’d as flow’d the words of fame
Amidst some social band,
Till life and love have lost all claim
Before his native land?

We meet to night, alas! how far
From that dear spot of earth
Where in their graves our fathers are,
Which gave us Britons birth!
But here’s a toast will gladden us
Upon Australia’s strand,
Peace to the land we live in thus,
Our children’s native land!

H. Parkes.

Source:
Australasian Chronicle (Sydney, NSW), 20 July 1841, p. 2

Editor’s notes:
breath’d = (vernacular) breathed

flow’d = (vernacular) flowed

ne’er = (vernacular) an archaic contraction of “never”

strand = land bordering a body of water, such as a beach or shore adjoining the sea; less commonly, may also refer to a beach or shore adjoining a lake or river (can also refer to a small brook or rivulet)

warm’d = (vernacular) warmed