Coronation Ode

I.

A summer sky looks down o’er all the land,
A summer sea rolls brightly on the strand;
From shore to shore, thro’ all our hundred plains,
Joy holds her revel sway,
And laughs the hours away,
And freely peal a thousand loyal strains,
For England crowns a Queen! Ye nations far,
Or where the dimness of the Polar Star
Lights endless winter lone;
Or where the frigid zone invests the sphere,
Or lustres of the Southern Cross appear,
Or watery deserts strewn,
Or India views its golden fabric piled,
Or Afric savage scours his sultry wild,
Or Andes heaves his sides,
Or Plata’s water rides—
List all! all, all attend—attend and joy,
For England crowns a Queen—the Queen of Liberty!

II.

Bright verdure-crowned shrine of the Spirit of Ocean,
Tune, tune the light Harp of thy glee,
Let Loyalty quicken each joyous emotion
That lives in the hearts of the free;
For a new star has risen to beam on thy path,
And a new light of Heaven is o’er thee,
And past and forgot is thy season of wrath,
And the joys of the free are before thee.

III.

Come, Scotia’s children, young and old,
Sound, sound your pibroch shrill,
And give your Queen a greeting bold
From each heath-crimson hill;
Ye wild, but free and gallant hearts,
’Tis yours to tread the breezy hill,
But rest to-day your hunting darts,
And sound the pibroch shrill.

IV.

And thou, too, England, proud and gay,
Give England’s Queen thy hail,
And seize thy hour, and peal a lay
Shrill rung afar o’er hill and dale.
And let the ocean hear the air
And own his monarch’s reign—
A Monarch great, supreme, and fair—
Thro’ all his infinite domain.

V.

A triple wreath we’ll bring
To-day unto the throne,
A triple melody we’ll sing
And joy unfettered own;
For England’s vales rejoice,
And Scotia’s hills of brown,
And Erin’s Isle lifts high her voice
To hail the brow that wears the crown.

VI.

For England, then, an emblem meet,
The glittering honours of the rose we bear,
All steeped in ocean foam,
A proud and happy land may greet
With such a gallant emblem’s colours fair
Above its regal dome.
In Scotia’s wilds the thistle waves,
And Scotia proffers what her wilds afford
With heartfelt loyalty.
Pride is the culture where the tempest raves,
And rude the hand inured to wield the sword
And ply the billowy sea.

VII.

And thou, sweet Erin, what hast thou?
The simple shamrock on thy golden lyre
Thou offerest to thy Queen,
Late hast thou shown a laughing brow,
And late thy eyes have gleamed with freedom’s fire,
Sweet beauteous Isle of Green.

VIII.

Then a hail from England loud and long,
And from Scotland’s wild
Of mountains piled,
And from Erin’s ancient lyric song!

IX.

May Heaven protect her sacred throne,
And guard her long to live and reign,
And keep in war and prove her own
Unto the monarch of the main.
And if the evil star that lowers
Far ’mid the gloom of Russia’s skies
Shall bid war’s hurricane arise,
And looms on us its fiendish powers—
Then, then a loving people’s prayer
Will shield our monarch from the storm,
Will speed the blow, will nerve the arm
Of England’s royal fair.

X.

But never may that hour of darkness come!
May hope and glory crown the springtide year.
May Autumn still his piles of plenty rear,
And peaceful hearths cheer each warm and wintry home.

XI.

Hope prompts our song—a spirit bright!
His laughing eye—his looks are cheery light,
His very breath doth seem to whisper us—
Believe!

XII.

Mid the bright orbs that roll in the western sky
There’s a new lustre risen to-day!
’Tis the load-star of liberty brightening on high
And repairing his long faded ray!
And, ho! mark how he raises his darkened brow,
And looks down on our island’s rough shore,
When the glee-peals of loyalty deafen the flow
Of the ocean’s land waves, or the hurrricane’s roar,
O! long may the star ride the firmament’s height,
And long may he beam soft and firmly as now,
May his smile be serene, and his eye ever bright
And ne’er may a war tempest ruffle his brow.
’Twas the genius of Britain rekindled his ray,
And that genius we’ve heard in our Sovereign’s voice;
O! when ages yet unborn shall think of to-day
They will give their glad children command to rejoice.