 | [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary with introduction and notes |  |
376
HOMES FOR ALL.
Columbia, fairest nation of the world,
Sitting in queenly beauty in the west,
With all thy banners round about thee furled,
Nursing the cherub Peace upon thy breast;
Never did daughter of a kingly line
Look on a lovelier heritage than thine!
Sitting in queenly beauty in the west,
With all thy banners round about thee furled,
Nursing the cherub Peace upon thy breast;
Never did daughter of a kingly line
Look on a lovelier heritage than thine!
Thou hast deep forests stretching far away,
The giant growth of the long centuries,
From whose dim shadows to the light of day
Come forth the mighty rivers toward the seas,
To walk like happy lovers, hand in hand,
Down through the green vales of our pleasant land.
The giant growth of the long centuries,
From whose dim shadows to the light of day
Come forth the mighty rivers toward the seas,
To walk like happy lovers, hand in hand,
Down through the green vales of our pleasant land.
Thou hast broad prairies, where the lonely flowers
Blossom and perish with the changing year;
Where harvests wave not through the summer hours,
Nor with the autumn ripen in the ear;
And beautiful lakes, that toss their milky spray
Where the strong ship hath never cleaved its way.
Blossom and perish with the changing year;
Where harvests wave not through the summer hours,
Nor with the autumn ripen in the ear;
And beautiful lakes, that toss their milky spray
Where the strong ship hath never cleaved its way.
And yet with all thy broad and fertile land,
Where hands sow not, nor gather in the grain,
Thy children come and round about thee stand,
Asking the blessing of a home in vain,—
Still lingering, but with feet that long to press
Through the green windings of the wilderness.
Where hands sow not, nor gather in the grain,
Thy children come and round about thee stand,
Asking the blessing of a home in vain,—
Still lingering, but with feet that long to press
Through the green windings of the wilderness.
In populous cities do men live and die,
That never breathe the pure and liberal air;
Down where the damp and desolate rice-swamps lie,
Wearying the ear of Heaven with constant prayer,
Are souls that never yet have learned to raise
Under God's equal sky the psalm of praise.
That never breathe the pure and liberal air;
Down where the damp and desolate rice-swamps lie,
Wearying the ear of Heaven with constant prayer,
Are souls that never yet have learned to raise
Under God's equal sky the psalm of praise.
Turn not, Columbia! from their pleading eyes;
Give to thy sons that ask of thee a home;
So shall they gather round thee, not with sighs,
But as young children to their mother come;
And brightly to the centuries shall go down
The glory that thou wearest like a crown.
Give to thy sons that ask of thee a home;
So shall they gather round thee, not with sighs,
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And brightly to the centuries shall go down
The glory that thou wearest like a crown.
| [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary with introduction and notes | |