Australia

Cossack

  1. We are built on callous bloodshed
    And on ancient bravery
    By men who sprang from tenements
    Of filth and slavery,
    Who sailed the threatening ocean
    And subdued the hostile land,
    Making bread out of the water,
    Making castles out of sand.
  2. Theirs the faults of blinkered breeding
    And the rigid grasp of power,
    Putting Jesus into fences,
    Schoolrooms, weapons and the hour:
    But they loved the Lord most dearly
    In the way they understood,
    Though their harshness often hid
    Their true intent of doing good.
  3. What they fought for we inherit,
    Mostly happy, rarely sad,
    With a mission to promote the good
    And mitigate the bad:
    As an epitaph to bravery
    We must be brave in love,
    Turn the other cheek in policy
    And forfeit to improve.