The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-01-29
RoER TO RRIroN.

am an Afrikander man who wants to
To Mister Ausfin's English verse and give
my reasons why.
Born. sixty years and more ago. quite
near the angry sea- -. .,,,-o
untamed and free.
We heard above the bowling storm the
English lion roar,
It had a raging thirst for blood. an appe-
tite for gore;
And though we fed it as we might, it
was not satisfied,
For all the more 1t drank or ate, the more
we must provide
compelled to yield:
Our homes about the Cape we left we
gave them flock and field
And onward north. not knowing where
To urge the flock and drive the herd. no
stop by night or day,
Save, with gaunt cheek and aching heart
on some poor foot of earth.
To close an eye or dig grave or wait
expected birth.
We came at last upon dreary space of
And burdened by its solitude in humble
ness we knelt,
Beneath the hooking sky of brass. upon
And there We uttered thanks unto our
fathers fathers God.
We saw the jungle stir-a tawny lion
smelt the feast;
We then and there thanked Him In
prayer, it was no English beast!
Beyond the reach of man. beyond his ut
Within waste that had no tree, that
cast no cooling shade,
Where rivers plunged down mountain
pass. then ploughed through barren
Whose very beds so dry no thirsty spring
box sought their sands.
glens, through all the summers
No soul to pluck. no bee to sip. they gave
out no perfume.
Around the wagons dusty road were
B PgdS the who he da aub 9gg ege and
not a note of song
Great hurricanes that seized the dust and
wrapped it as a robe.
Then hurried like a demon on to terrify
the globe.
A sad, far cry, of some lost lamb beneath
that somber night.
meath the Briton's might
Above, the stars all dumb of land and
home from which we fled;
This wasted land no promise held, no
hope hung overhead.
There on that Afric desert waste of
We sang His psalms and blessed His
name and turned the sacred page.
We thanked Him for this barren reach,
so desolate and lone,
The Briton in his mighty greed would
never want to own.
We watched our f1ocks and herds and
strained our weary eyes to see,
If yet again the English came, If yet
twas time to flee.
The honest collies came to have care
worn. ,wistful air, IT,,
brutes they seemed to share.
Our cattle. as they browsed the grass.
would swallow down their cud,
And sniff the wind as if it bore scent
of human blood.
We watched the course of drifting cloud.
the path of flying sand,
In fear that they would prove to be some
brutal red coat band.
We slept all night with open eyes. and
bent an anxious ear,
The horses tramp-the juggling spurs
the clank of swords-to hear
The English tried to starve US out; the
The God of Battles rode with US that
bloody Dingaan Day!
Then came the red coat troops. for once
they got their bellies fill;
We climbed the creSt-yOu know the rest
of steep Majuba Hill
either hand the sea,
We know not anywhere to go, we have
no place to feel
We stay and fight, no more we move, our
journeying is done.
We've tired feet. our graves are here, the
Boer no more will run.
To meet this hour we've bred but boys
a score of years or more;
They shoot the game and bear the guns
that once their fathers bore.
A broken reed this royal strut of Eng
For in our hearts and souls we know,
the Lord is on our side!
The desert wind that shifts the sand
The W. blind Their Ell, ho ;did eye FOOD tho
streams shall fail supply.
The mountain walls will barrier each
Each stream a fort, behind each rock
they'll find a fighting man.
They'll find each stubborn. hinty hill a
living wall of fire,
shall fail their hearts desire.
And well the Spartan Mothers all of
Briton's isles may weep.
AS up the kopjes rugged Side the Eng
fish columns creep.
The English lads they brought from
No more shall press their grieving hearts,
no more shall touch their lips.
We made VOW, each held stone and
cast it in the heap,
To free the land from English rule, think
death itself too cheap.
And long as God is God, or right is right.
this land shall be
Our home or grave, but always Dutch
and Boer and always free!
Our God and fathers God! Our Lord of
battle, might and powerl
Thy people this and this their prayer and
this the waited hour!