Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MAYFLOWER, by GEORGE LUNT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MAYFLOWER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sweet as the honored name
Last Line: Their pilgrim fame shall be!
Subject(s): Fame; God; Mayflower (ship); Pilgrimages & Pilgrims; Reputation


SWEET as the honored name
Their storm-tossed shallop bore,
The memory of our fathers' fame,
And green forevermore.

Peace to their hallowed graves,
That consecrate the ground,
Where first a refuge from the waves
Their pilgrim footsteps found.

What mortal sighs and tears
Swelled on that wintry sod!
How cast they all their cares and fears
And every hope on God!

And wild as winds, that sweep
Along the savage shore,
Rose thoughts of homes beyond the deep,
Their pleasant homes no more.

But grander visions greet
Their prophet-lighted eyes,—
They trod the world beneath their feet,
And marched to join the skies.

Triumphant over earth,
Faith, that their spirits fed,
Beamed, like a gem of priceless worth,
On each uplifted head.

No flaming sign they sought
To light their venturous road,
They owned the unseen Hand that wrought,
And in His strength abode.

But to their souls' desire,—
Though dark to mortal view,—
The daily cloud and nightly fire
Shone, clear as Jacob knew.

Vain doubt, and fear, and care,
The desert and the flood,—
They knew the God they served was there,
And in His name they stood.

Thoughts, more than human great,
Came to their spirits' call;
And thus they built the stable STATE,
In Him, their hope, their all.

And far as rolls the swell
Of Time's returnless sea,
Where empires rise and nations dwell,
Their Pilgrim fame shall be!





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