HOBART
Man’s love first found me; man’s hate made me Hell;
For my babes’ sake I cleansed those infamies.
Earnest for leave to live and labour well,
God flung me peace and ease.
AUCKLAND
Last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart—
On us, on us the unswerving season smiles
Who wonder ’mid our fern why men depart
To seek the Happy Isles!
ENGLAND’S ANSWER
Truly ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than to ban;
Little used to lie down at the bidding of any man.
Flesh of the flesh that I bred, bone of the bone that I bare;
Stark as your sons shall be—stern as your fathers were.
Deeper than speech our love, stronger than life our tether,
But we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we come together.