South Africa Rediviva

Bright land which stretchest down through Southern seas
On which the Sun loves well to look--South Africa--
Thou now hast wakened--and the stirring breeze
Which comes from the northward fills thee with a soul.
Arise, throw off thy shackles and advance--
Among the nations claim thy place, and live!
The time has come to shake off thy dull sleep
Of slavery and apathy: thou wast made to be
A home for millions of the brave and free.

For God has blest thee with a dower of wealth,
Of tree, of herb, of pasture, and of field:
Thy children laugh aloud in jocund health,
And all things men require thy plains can yield;
At faintest knock thy mountain portals ope,
Revealing treasure glimpses fair to see--
Rich diamonds, metals, aye, Imperial gold,
Are in the dower which God hath given thee.
Arise, ye Lotus-eaters of the South, and know
The plenteous blessings which from labour flow.

As men have reaped great Europe--pouring down
From Scandinavia and far Baltic’s wave,
So must our future too be reaped--now sown,
The crops will grow above this era’s grave.
South Afric calls aloud to Europe, filled
With overflowing energy and youth,
Come in your thousands--work as your fathers willed,
With strength, with power, with energy and truth.
Good Hope will turn to Hope at last fulfilled,
And Southern Africa be great--as God has willed.