Australia

Cossack

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.
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.
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.