The bugles of England were blowing o"er the sea,As they had called a thousand years, calling now to me; They woke me from dreaming in the dawning of the day, The bugles of England-and how could I stay?
The banners of England, unfurled across the sea, Floating out upon the wind, were beckoning to me; Storm-rent and battle-torn, smoke-stained and grey, The banners of England-and how could I stay?
O England, I heard the cry of those that died for thee, Sounding like an organ-voice across the winter sea;They lived and died for England, and gladly went their way- England, O England-how could I stay?
J. D. Burns
Beneath our scarlet fields Thermopyl?"s secret ran,The speech of Freedom is one, and one is the Soul of Man.
Author.-J. D. Burns, the elder son of the Rev. H. M. Burns, a Melbourne clergyman, was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne. He enlisted for active service in 1914, was on the torpedoed Southland in 1915, and was killed in action on Gallipoli three weeks later. The verses quoted appeared in The Scotch Collegian, of which magazine he was editor. This poem stresses further the close kinship of England and the Dominions.
General.-How far back would a thousand years take us? What is theanswer to the question, "How could I stay? " What is the "England " for which they died?