On Tuesday Victoria began, not only a new year, but a new century in her history.

When you are gone and I am gone
   Into the vague hereafter,
And still the old world carries on
   With weeping and with laughter,
I wonder how will run this tale
   Upon that far and secret day --
Of then who prosper, them who fall --
   Another hundred years away.

Shall it still be, as in the past,
   A glad and hopeful story
Of men who ventured, yet held fast
   By peaceful paths to glory --
The glory won by methods sane
   And wisdom of an olden day?
Or will their striving all prove vain,
   Another hundred years away.

Here's hoping that the gods may grant
   The will to cleave to sanity,
Confusing those who would supplant
   Old truths with that queer vanity
That urges men to further schemes
   New-found, new-hatched but yesterday --
And win fulfilment of old dreams
   Come true a hundred years away.

When you have passed, and I have passed
   Into the outer mystery,
Grant we may see the spirit last
   That built this young land's history --
Spirit of those who were content
   To tread in peace the proven way,
So men have yet less to repent
   Another hundred years away.

"Den"
Herald, 3 January 1935, p6