



Produced by David Widger





SONGS OF THE ROAD

By Arthur Conan Doyle



Contents

I. NARRATIVE VERSES AND SONGS

     SONGS OF THE ROAD

     A HYMN OF EMPIRE

     SIR NIGEL'S SONG

     THE ARAB STEED

     A POST-IMPRESSIONIST

     EMPIRE BUILDERS

     THE GROOM'S ENCORE

     THE BAY HORSE

     THE OUTCASTS

     THE END

     1902-1909

     THE WANDERER {1}

     BENDY'S SERMON



II. PHILOSOPHIC VERSES

     COMPENSATION

     THE BANNER OF PROGRESS

     HOPE

     RELIGIO MEDICI

     MAN'S LIMITATION

     MIND AND MATTER

     DARKNESS



III MISCELLANEOUS VERSES

     A WOMAN'S LOVE

     BY THE NORTH SEA

     DECEMBER'S SNOW

     SHAKESPEARE'S EXPOSTULATION

     THE EMPIRE

     A VOYAGE

     THE ORPHANAGE

     SEXAGENARIUS LOQUITUR

     NIGHT VOICES

     THE  MESSAGE

     THE ECHO

     ADVICE TO A YOUNG AUTHOR

     A LILT OF THE ROAD




SONGS OF THE ROAD

By Arthur  Conan Doyle

Garden City   New York
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

1911

J. C. D.

THIS-AND-ALL

February, 1911




FOREWORD

     If it were not for the hillocks
            You'd think little of the hills;
     The rivers would seem tiny
            If it were not for the rills.
     If you never saw the brushwood
            You would under-rate the trees;
     And so you see the purpose
            Of such little rhymes as these.

     Crowborough

     1911




I. NARRATIVE VERSES AND SONGS
[1]




SONGS OF THE ROAD




A HYMN OF EMPIRE

(Coronation Year, 1911)
[3]

     God save England, blessed by Fate,
          So old, yet ever young:
     The acorn isle from which the great
          Imperial oak has sprung!
     And God guard Scotland's kindly soil,
          The land of stream and glen,
     The granite mother that has bred
          A breed of granite men!

     God save Wales, from Snowdon's vales
          To Severn's silver strand!
[4]  For all the grace of that old race
          Still haunts the Celtic land.
     And, dear old Ireland, God  save you,
          And heal the wounds of old,
     For every grief you ever knew
          May  joy   come  fifty-fold!

              Set Thy guard over us,
              May Thy shield cover us,
              Enfold and uphold us
                On land and on sea!
              From the palm to the pine,
              From the snow to the line,
                Brothers together
                And children of Thee.

     Thy blessing, Lord, on Canada,
          Young giant of the West,
[5]  Still upward lay her broadening way,
          And may her feet be blessed!
     And Africa, whose hero breeds
          Are blending into one,
     Grant that she tread the path which leads
          To holy unison.

     May God protect Australia,
          Set in her Southern Sea!
     Though far thou art, it cannot part
          Thy brother folks from thee.
     And you, the Land