 | Going-to-the-stars |  |
34
VIRGINIA
When I was asked to look at a gold model of the Mayflower in a Bank in London.
Oh, Mayflower, made of filigree gold,
“Hear now my song of love, melody immortal,”
Virginia, Virginia!
“Hear now my song of love, melody immortal,”
Virginia, Virginia!
Land of the gauntlet and the glove,
Virginia, Virginia!
Horseback land of sash and plume,
Where they rode to wisdom, wonder and doom,
Virginia, Virginia!
Virginia, Virginia!
Horseback land of sash and plume,
Where they rode to wisdom, wonder and doom,
Virginia, Virginia!
They took their axes and their Bibles,
They took their guns, they took their fiddles,
Dancing the old Virginia Reel,
They went West to the new blue grass,
When it was still Virginia.
When people say “Kentucky,” they mean Virginia.
They took their guns, they took their fiddles,
Dancing the old Virginia Reel,
They went West to the new blue grass,
When it was still Virginia.
When people say “Kentucky,” they mean Virginia.
And they were very proud and high,
Remembering a southern shore,
The Potomac, and Virginia.
Then west, to escape from western ways
Days too hasty and too thin,
The tribe went on to the furthest west,
Where the oldest thoughts again begin,
Still dreaming of Virginia.
Remembering a southern shore,
The Potomac, and Virginia.
Then west, to escape from western ways
Days too hasty and too thin,
The tribe went on to the furthest west,
Where the oldest thoughts again begin,
Still dreaming of Virginia.
35
They took their schoolbooks and their wagons,
They took their scythes, their rakes and flagons,
They took their fiddles, Bibles and guns,
They took their sons, and their sons' sons.
On to new Missouri;
And they were very proud and high,
And danced the old Virginia Reel,
Remembering Virginia.
They took their scythes, their rakes and flagons,
They took their fiddles, Bibles and guns,
They took their sons, and their sons' sons.
On to new Missouri;
And they were very proud and high,
And danced the old Virginia Reel,
Remembering Virginia.
They took their glories and their shames,
They took their trifles and their rags,
They took their sects and tribes and names,
They took their cloaks and moneybags;
They went west to the silver mines.
And they were hoity-toity high,
Remembering Virginia,
Remembering Virginia,
The strutting, prancing glory,
The sweet dancing glory,
The wonder, the heartbreak,
Virginia, Virginia!
They took their trifles and their rags,
They took their sects and tribes and names,
They took their cloaks and moneybags;
They went west to the silver mines.
And they were hoity-toity high,
Remembering Virginia,
Remembering Virginia,
The strutting, prancing glory,
The sweet dancing glory,
The wonder, the heartbreak,
Virginia, Virginia!
They went northwest to the tall woods,
On to Kootenai,
On to Going-to-the-Sun;
To the mountains called Olympia,
To the river called Columbia,
To dew and mist and roses.
And they were very proud and high.
Chin-high, breast-high, thoughts-in-the air,
Remembering a southern shore,
Remembering Virginia.
On to Kootenai,
On to Going-to-the-Sun;
To the mountains called Olympia,
To the river called Columbia,
36
And they were very proud and high.
Chin-high, breast-high, thoughts-in-the air,
Remembering a southern shore,
Remembering Virginia.
We can make fun of their every-days,
But, “hear now my song of love, melody immortal”—
Virginia, Virginia!
Land of the gauntlet and the glove.
Virginia, Virginia!
But, “hear now my song of love, melody immortal”—
Virginia, Virginia!
Land of the gauntlet and the glove.
Virginia, Virginia!
Pocahontas, Powhatan,
Rolfe and Raleigh and John Smith,
Jefferson, Washington—
First families of Virginia.
Mount Vernon, Monticello,
And that ancient University
Founded by wild Jefferson,
The place where young Poe learned to sing—
Virginia's University!
Remembering the wandering walls,
The proud pillars, the strange halls,
Of that old University—
The brain of old Virginia!
Rolfe and Raleigh and John Smith,
Jefferson, Washington—
First families of Virginia.
Mount Vernon, Monticello,
And that ancient University
Founded by wild Jefferson,
The place where young Poe learned to sing—
Virginia's University!
Remembering the wandering walls,
The proud pillars, the strange halls,
Of that old University—
The brain of old Virginia!
37
They went northwest to the tall woods,
They went northwest to the pine woods,
And they were touchy and quite high,
Remembering those ragged men
That followed hard the Stars and Bars,
The Potomac running mud and blood,
While Lee reigned in Virginia!
Remembering Lee and all his men,
Remembering daguerreotypes, tintypes, books and photographs
That once came from Virginia—
And thinking deeply all the while
Of the growing dimness of that land,
And the ruin of Virginia,
And the ruin of Virginia.
They went northwest to the pine woods,
And they were touchy and quite high,
Remembering those ragged men
That followed hard the Stars and Bars,
The Potomac running mud and blood,
While Lee reigned in Virginia!
Remembering Lee and all his men,
Remembering daguerreotypes, tintypes, books and photographs
That once came from Virginia—
And thinking deeply all the while
Of the growing dimness of that land,
And the ruin of Virginia,
And the ruin of Virginia.
At the Seattle water front
The lovers stood there, eye to eye,
Their passage booked for India,
West, to escape from western ways,
Days too hasty and too thin,
To the farthest West and the furthest East,
Where the oldest thoughts again begin.
Starting Walt Whitman's journey there,
The passage to India.
Paying in heartbreak for their pride,
Like all the great who lived and died—
Remembering Virginia.
The lovers stood there, eye to eye,
Their passage booked for India,
West, to escape from western ways,
Days too hasty and too thin,
To the farthest West and the furthest East,
Where the oldest thoughts again begin.
Starting Walt Whitman's journey there,
The passage to India.
Paying in heartbreak for their pride,
38
Remembering Virginia.
Oh, lovers, standing eye to eye,
Remembering a southern shore,
Remembering George Washington,
And the dim land of Virginia.
“Hear now my song of love, melody immortal”—
Land of the gauntlet and the glove,
Virginia, Virginia!
Remembering a southern shore,
Remembering George Washington,
And the dim land of Virginia.
“Hear now my song of love, melody immortal”—
Land of the gauntlet and the glove,
Virginia, Virginia!
If your dust in far Thibet
Shall sweep across the desert walls
And mix with the wild desert snows
Beyond the heights of India,
Something will whisper:
“Washington, Jefferson, Virginia,
Poe and Virginia,
The melody immortal—
“Virginia! Virginia!”
Shall sweep across the desert walls
And mix with the wild desert snows
Beyond the heights of India,
Something will whisper:
“Washington, Jefferson, Virginia,
Poe and Virginia,
The melody immortal—
“Virginia! Virginia!”
| Going-to-the-stars | |