WE came, and you bade us welcome, You gave of your golden store, When oppressed in the lands of our fathers We thronged through your wide-flung door The Celt from the Isle of Sorrow, The Teuton and Frank as one We followed the gleam of a hopeful dream To the Land of the Setting Sun. They lie, who would brand us ungrateful, And false to a nation's trust, That stooped like a loving mother And lifted us out of the dust. Please God, you will never need it But if cause there should ever be, Our blades like flame will defend your name And our cherished Liberty. We will gather like clouds of the tempest At the threat of a mailed hand, And the tread of our marching millions Shall thunder across the land. The flash of our righteous lightning Shall illuminate the world, Where flying free our foes will see The Stars and Stripes unfurled. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CHILD'S PRAYER [OR, HYMN] by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS BARNEY'S INVITATION by PHILIP FRENEAU A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 54 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN TO F - (MRS. FRANCES SARGENT OSGOOD) by EDGAR ALLAN POE NATIONAL ODE; INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA by BAYARD TAYLOR ON THE SUN COMING OUT IN THE AFTERNOON by HENRY DAVID THOREAU |