<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">Queen Alexandra Day</h1><h1 align="" class="head">i</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">MOTHER-QUEEN, Mother-Queen,</p><p class="line">How has thou heard, how hast thou seen</p><p class="line">Thy people's woe?</p><p class="line">Are there not golden bars between</p><p class="line">The high and low?</p><p class="line">How hast thou heard? How hast thou seen?</p><p class="line">How dost thou know?</p><p class="line">What can our lowly sorrow mean</p><p class="line">To one so high?</p><p class="line">Though thou listen, and though thou lean,</p><p class="line">Down from the sky,</p><p class="line">Thou canst not tell our sorrow and teen,</p><p class="line">Nor hear us sigh.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">ii</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Throned afar,</p><p class="line">On a golden star,</p><p class="line">How canst thou guess</p><p class="line">What sore distress,</p><p class="line">And cold, and hunger, and weeping are?</p><p class="line">Were it not better to shut thine eyes</p><p class="line">To things beneath thee, and far-away?</p><p class="line">Why shouldst thou listen for distant sighs?</p><p class="line">'Tis thine to praise, and 'tis theirs to pray;</p><p class="line">Thou art a Queen by the Grace of God,</p><p class="line">And the height is high, and the gulf is broad.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">iii</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Mother-Queen,</p><p class="line">Art mother of all the land;</p><p class="line">Hast heard and seen,</p><p class="line">Canst pity and understand;</p><p class="line">And in thy motherly compassion now,</p><p class="line">We half forget the crown upon thy brow</p><p class="line">And come to thee like children. Queen most fair,</p><p class="line">Mother most wise and good,</p><p class="line">These garlands of wild roses everywhere</p><p class="line">Have bound us in the bonds of brotherhood ;--</p><p class="line">Hast brought not only to the hungry food</p><p class="line">And solace to Despair,</p><p class="line">Hast made us see that even on a throne</p><p class="line">Pity and Love are beautifully shown,</p><p class="line">And that a queen</p><p class="line">Is ne'er more queenly seen</p><p class="line">Than when she cometh down to comfort care.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">iv</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Thy voice is like the bugle-voice of dawn--</p><p class="line">The orison</p><p class="line">Of many birds and rivers, and thine eyes</p><p class="line">Are like the morning beauty of the skies.</p><p class="line">Love dawns in thee--sunlight, and song, and dew,</p><p class="line">Ideals morning-wise</p><p class="line">And morning-true;</p><p class="line">Love dawns in thee, and hearts of men awake</p><p class="line">To worship Love even for Beauty's sake.</p><p class="line">In every heart thy Love and Beauty stir</p><p class="line">Beauty and Love. Thou art the harbinger</p><p class="line">Of charity, and truth.</p><p class="line">Like pinions of an Angel Beautiful</p><p class="line">Rippling the peace of a Bethesda pool,</p><p class="line">To healing of the people is thy hand</p><p class="line">Moving our pity. Mother of the land,</p><p class="line">Because thou lovest thou dost understand.</p></div></body></html> · Great War