Anzacs

Have we forgotten? In the years long gone —
The lazy, laughing years of careless ease—
We garnered golden harvests, and dreamed on,
Safe in a fair land, set in peaceful seas —
Dreamed on of endless peace, of cloudless skies,
And few were there to heed who sought to warn
The fools that prospered in their Paradise,
And met grim prophecy with smiling scorn.

Have we forgotten? Happy fools were we;
And careless schoolboys, in those years were they
Who bore our banner on Gallipoli
Eight years ago today.

Have we forgotten? Thro’ our dreaming broke
The roll of drums! Sounding from shore to shore,
The sudden bugles blared; and we awoke
To half a wide world given to red war,
And they, the striplings and the younger men,
Untried, unblooded, straightway sprang to arms
Like seasoned veterans who hear again,
As once their forbears heard, war’s dread alarms.

Have we forgotten? Was it fleeting fame
They sought when, ‘mid our cheers they sailed away
To win Australia a deathless name
Eight years ago today?

Have we forgotten? In those days of dread
That followed after, now with sudden fear,
And now with hope, we scanned the news that sped
Back to a fearful people waiting here.
And then — Gallipoli! Ah, who shall dare
Forget how, in that blast of war’s dread breath
Our striplings, on the shore by Sari Bair,
Won, in the hour, their baptism — and death?

Have we forgotten? Nay. For still there be
Grey mothers dreading still, while yet they pray,
The hour that brought them their Gethsemane,
Eight years ago today.

Have we forgotten? Anzac! That great name
Shall go down thro’ the years, when we who live
Today are long forgot. A nation’s fame,
Enshrined in that one word, new heart shall give
Unto our children’s children. When the old
White crosses cease to mark where brave men died,
Then will the tales of Anzac still be told—
Told for a Nation’s honor, and her pride.

Have we forgotten? . . . Oh, sleep well, sleep well!
Full sure your fame can never pass away,
Heroes, who for Australia’s honor fell
Eight years ago today.

“C. J. Dennis”
Herald, 25 April 1923, p1