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Collected Poems

Hymn of Peace

Hymn of Peace

Ring out, ye joyful bells, O ring, ring out!
And all ye happy people, sing and shout!
On borrower and lender
now dawns in all its splendour
      the Age of Peace
(without, however, benefit of Lend-Lease).

O happy time, when all the world is free!
The sun of Freedom shines o'er land and sea!
Released from war's alarms
now men lay down their arms,
      and all is quiet
(except for an odd Palestinian riot).

In field and factory, too, joy reigns supreme,
for men have realised their age-old dream;
loving co-operation
builds Peace within each nation
      (bar, inter alia,
strikes in America, Java, Britain, Australia).

page 126

Go, bind the daffodillies in your hair,
and dance, ye maidens, dance, and cast off care!
Peace reigns: with one accord
nations renounce the sword
      and meet as brothers
(all but the Big Three, and some forty others).