Illimitable paths of heaven with our own.

But for far heavenly paths we had no care

While still that road before us was untried,

And the world called to us its joys to share,

Its lore to read, its destinies to guide.{52}

{52}

Our hearts were filled with a terrestrial pride;

We loved our world and gloried in the fame

Of those who in its service lived and died,

Who fought and laboured to create its claim

Amid the countless spheres to hold an honoured name.

To other gods than ours the past has knelt,

And creed and cause may sever us or bind;

But here upon our common road we felt

The bond of bonds that links all humankind,—

Man’s pilgrim fellowship. Through rain and wind,

In sunshine and beneath the starry deep,

There is one goal for all the world to find,

A sacred hope to guard, a watch to keep,

And in a little while the comradeship of sleep.

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