BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC 81 JULIA WARD HOWE AMERICA, 1819 Battle Hymn of the Republic Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on. I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred cir cling camps; They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps: His day is marching on. I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel: "As ye deal with My contemners, so My grace with you shall deal;" Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, Since God is marching on. 5 10 10 5 He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat: Oh! be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on. In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me: As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on. JOAQUIN MILLER AMERICA, 1841 Columbus Behind him lay the gray Azores, The good mate said: "Now must we pray, COLUMBUS Brave Admiral, speak; what shall I say?" "Why say: 'Sail on! sail on! and on!"" "My men grow mutinous day by day; My men grow ghastly wan and weak," The stout mate thought of home; a spray Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. "What shall I say, brave Admiral, say, If we sight naught but seas at dawn?" Why, you shall say, at break of day, 'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'" 66 They sailed and sailed as winds might blow, For God from these dread seas is gone. They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate: "This mad sea shows his teeth to-night. He curls his lip, he lies in wait, With lifted teeth, as if to bite! Brave Admiral, say but one good word: What shall we do when hope is gone?" The words leapt as a leaping sword: "Sail on sail on! sail on! and on!" Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, And peered through darkness. Ah, that night Of all dark nights! And then a speck A light! a light! a light! a light! 5 It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! It grew to be Time's burst of dawn. He gained a world; he gave that world Its greatest lesson: "On! sail on!" JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY AMERICA, 1852 Old Glory! say, who, Old Glory1 10 By the ships and the crew, And the long, blended ranks of the gray and the blue— Who gave you, Old Glory, the name that you bear With such pride everywhere, As you cast yourself free to the rapturous air 15 And leap out full length, as we're wanting you to? - 1 This and the following poems are used by the courteous permission of the publishers, Messrs. Bobbs, Merrill, & Co., Indianapolis. Who gave you the name of Old Glory Who gave you the name of Old Glory? say, who 5 The old banner lifted and faltering then Repeat it, and cheer it, 's a tang to the spirit As salt as a tear; And seeing you fly, and the boys marching by, There's a shout in the throat and a blur in the eye, For you, floating above, And the scars of all wars and the sorrows thereof, Then the old banner leaped like a sail in the blast, And it spake with a shake of the voice, and it said: |