Good Hope Poem by Cicely Fox Smith

Good Hope! Since white men's banners
First met the seaward breeze,
Since first the keels of Europe
Swept round to unploughed seas,
Fated through generations
With strong-limb'd foes to cope,
Your lot has been for ever
To live and work in hope.

Good Hope! Though wild and weary
The pathway through the years,
Paven with grief and labour
And dim with mists of tears,
Go forth, go forth and conquer,
Though ways be dark and long;
Be true, as ye are stalwart;
Be brave, as ye are strong!

Good Hope! O far-off kindred,
Strive onward, heart and soul,
Welding the severed fragments
To one imperial whole!
Good Hope! Through flying vapours
Red dawns the distant light:
Strike home - for Queen and Empire,
And God defend the right!