Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ROCK OF LIBERTY; A PILGRIM ODE, 1629-1920: 1. VISION, by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ROCK OF LIBERTY; A PILGRIM ODE, 1629-1920: 1. VISION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lord god of hosts, defender of the weak
Last Line: Should through the ages ring!
Subject(s): Freedom; Mayflower (ship); Pilgrim Fathers; Prayer; Religion; Liberty; Theology


PRAYER OF SAILING

LORD GOD of Hosts, Defender of the weak,
With thine Almighty arm deliver us,
Thy suffering people, exiled and forlorn,
Pilgrims of faith, who dream a glorious dream!
Beyond the deep, where no man knows the way,
To savage shores beneath an alien sky,
Guide us in hope to Liberty and Peace.
Jehovah! Hearken to thy people's cry!
Oh, grant us freedom, Lord, within thy law,
To toil or worship, live or die for Thee,
In thy name building that which shall endure
Beyond the little while we have to live.

THE VISION

O rolling waste of unimagined ocean,
Dividing continents and parting men!
Yield to the fragile sails of destiny,
Manned by the will that conquers mighty force!
Bow to the courage that endures to die,
The faith that anchors to a solid Rock.
O waves that do divide! The time will come
When water shall unite the sundered lands.
Then over sea, under the sea and through,
Shall fare the galleons of brotherhood,
Bearing the freight of liberty and love
From a great nation, heir of our desire,
To every corner of the peopled earth.

THE MAYFLOWER

O Pilgrims in a cockle frail
Upon a perilous quest,
Out of the old world making sail
Into the golden west;
Beyond the misty ocean veil
Awaits a Vision blest!

A simple little yeoman band,
None of the rich or great,
But stout of heart and strong of hand,
The pioneers of fate;
The patient builders of a land,
The founders of a State!

Your fragile bark adventuring
Upon a fearful sea, --
Awful the cargo that you bring;
The seeds of destiny,
Promise of future harvesting
In sheaves of liberty.

CHORUS OF WOMEN

The peril of the frozen wave
Our faith cannot betray;
Mothers and maidens, be ye brave,
And teach the babes to pray, --
"Jehovah! Who art strong to save,
Guide to Thy chosen Bay!"

Famine and cold and fever come
To meet us on the shore;
Labor and want and sorrow, dumb
For joys we see no more.
O Lord, give hope in a new home;
Strength for what lies before!

Yea, though he slay with scourge forlorn,
We trust Jehovah's will.
Although the pitying rows of corn
Hide many a little hill
Where lie our loved and newly-born;
Our God is with us still.

CHORUS OF MEN

No snarling danger in its den
Can make our courage quail;
No prowling savage of the fen
Will turn our color pale,
Nor treachery of brother men
Make our endeavor fail.

With freedom are our furrows filled,
To blossom in the spring.
To freedom run the roads we build:
"Freedom!" the gray walls sing.
For FREEDOM is the word we willed
Should through the ages ring!





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