Classic and Contemporary Poetry
NEW NATIONAL HYMN, by FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD First Line: Hail, freedom! Thy bright crest Last Line: Take thou, at last, our souls to thine eternal peace. Variant Title(s): National Hymn Subject(s): Fourth Of July; Independence Day | ||||||||
HAIL, Freedom! thy bright crest And gleaming shield, thrice blest, Mirror the glories of a world thine own. Hail, heaven-born Peace! our sight, Led by thy gentle light, Shows us the paths with deathless flowers strewn. Peace, daughter of a strife sublime, Abide with us till strife be lost in endless time. Chorus -- Thy sun is risen, and shall not set, Upon thy day divine; Ages, of unborn ages, yet, America, are thine. Her one hand seals with gold The portals of night's fold, Her other, the broad gates of dawn unbars; O'er silent wastes of snows, Crowning her lofty brows, Gleams high her diadem of northern stars; While, clothed in garlands of warm flowers, Round Freedom's feet the South her wealth of beauty showers. Sweet is the toil of peace, Sweet is the year's increase, To loyal men who live by Freedom's laws; And in war's fierce alarms God gives stout hearts and arms To freemen sworn to save a rightful cause. Fear none, trust God, maintain the right, And triumph in unbroken Union's might. Welded in war's fierce flame, Forged on the hearth of fame, The sacred Constitution was ordained; Tried in the fire of time, Tempered in woes sublime, An age was passed and left it yet unstained. God grant its glories still may shine, While ages fade, forgotten, in time's slow decline! Honor the few who shared Freedom's first fight, and dared To face war's desperate tide at the full flood; Who fell on hard-won ground, And into Freedom's wound Poured the sweet balsam of their brave hearts' blood. They fell; but o'er that glorious grave Floats free the banner of the cause they died to save. In radiance heavenly fair, Floats on the peaceful air That flag that never stooped from victory's pride; Those stars that softly gleam, Those stripes that o'er us stream, In war's grand agony were sanctified; A holy standard, pure and free, To light the home of peace, or blaze in victory. Father, whose mighty power Shields us through life's short hour, To Thee we pray, -- Bless us and keep us free: All that is past forgive; Teach us, henceforth, to live, That, through our country, we may honor Thee; And, when this mortal life shall cease, Take Thou, at last, our souls to Thine eternal peace. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONSECRATED GROUND; READ AT THE NEW YORK CITY HALL by EDWIN MARKHAM FOURTH OF JULY NIGHT by CARL SANDBURG AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by KATHARINE LEE BATES AMERICA (1) by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT ANTIQUITY OF FREEDOM by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT CONCORD HYMN; SUNG AT COMPLETION OF CONCORD MONUMENT, 1836 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON ODE SUNG IN THE TOWN HALL, CONCORD, JULY 4, 1857 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON LIBERTY FOR ALL by WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON MAKING THE BED by KAREN SWENSON |
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