“ Give Us this Day our Daily
Bread.”
When He, the wise, the great, the good,1
Threw empty thrones away ;2
And sought the desert solitude3
For prostrate man to pray.4
He asked not for a longer lease5
To breed usurping things,6
But breathed a holy prayer of peace7
To God—the King of Kings.8
He asked for Judah’s sons of toil,9
For England’s drooping slaves,10
The golden harvest of our soil,11
That Summer’s light wind waves.12
“ Give us this day our daily bread,”13
Our Great Redeemer cried ;14
Yet thousands moulder with the dead,15
Because that bread’s denied.16
Denied !— —Yon living Sun that rolls17
In splendour through the sky,18
Proclaims in tones that reach the poles,19
That God does not deny.20
But men, with rude and demon hand,21
By sceptres and by chains22
Have dealt damnation round the land ?23
To pander to their gains.24
Then, Britons, be no more misled,25
But peal the heavenly notes—26
“ Give us this day our daily bread”—27
Give England back her votes.28