"Cast down your bucket where you are," From burning sands or Polar star From where the iceberg rears its head Or where the kingly palms outspread; 'Mid blackened fields or golden sheaves, Or foliage green, or autumn leaves, Come sounds of warning from afar, "Cast down your bucket where you are." What doth it matter if thy years Have slowly dragged 'mid sighs and tears? What doth it matter, since thy day Is brightened now by hope's bright ray. The morning star will surely rise, And Ethiop's sons with longing eyes And outstretched hands, will bless the day, When old things shall have passed away. Come, comrades, from the East, the West! Come, bridge the chasm. It is best. Come, warm hearts of the sunny South, And clasp hands with the mighty North. Rise Afric's sons and chant with joy, Good will to all without alloy; The night of grief has passed away -- On Orient gleams a brighter day. Say, ye that wore the blue, how sweet That thus in sympathy we meet, Our brothers who the gray did love And martyrs to their cause did prove. Say, once for all and once again, That blood no more shall flow in vain; Say Peace shall brood o'er this fair land And hearts, for aye, be joined with hand. Hail! Watchman, from thy lofty height; Tell us, O tell us of the night? Will Bethlehem's Star ere long arise And point this nation to the skies? Will paeans ring from land and sea Fraught with untrammelled liberty Till Time's appointed course be run, And Earth's millenium be begun? "Cast down your bucket," let it be As water flows both full and free! Let charity, that twice blest boon Thy watchword be from night to morn. Let kindness as the dew distil To friend and foe, alike, good will; Till sounds the wondrous battle-call, For all one flag, one flag for all. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SIMON SURNAMED PETER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TWO VOYAGERS by EMILY DICKINSON LIMERICK by OLIVER BROOK HERFORD KILLED AT THE FORD by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW GRATIANA DANCING AND SINGING by RICHARD LOVELACE |