 | The poetical works of Samuel Woodworth |  |
125
WASHINGTON'S BIRTH.
Bright were her smiles, when the blushing Aurora,
Greeted the newly-born hope of the West;
Phœbus, advancing in chariot of glory,
Gazed with delight on the infantile guest;
Seraphs, commissioned to watch o'er his slumbers,
Shake from their pinions the odors of bliss;
While, in the softest and sweetest of numbers,
Hark! they are chanting an anthem like this:
Bright heir of endless fame,
Thine be a deathless name,
Thine be a glory to brighten the earth;
Then shall a nation join,
Round Freedom's sacred shrine,
Hailing the day of our Washington's birth.
Greeted the newly-born hope of the West;
Phœbus, advancing in chariot of glory,
Gazed with delight on the infantile guest;
Seraphs, commissioned to watch o'er his slumbers,
Shake from their pinions the odors of bliss;
While, in the softest and sweetest of numbers,
Hark! they are chanting an anthem like this:
Bright heir of endless fame,
Thine be a deathless name,
Thine be a glory to brighten the earth;
Then shall a nation join,
Round Freedom's sacred shrine,
Hailing the day of our Washington's birth.
Fame heard the chorus, and braided the laurel,
Mars caught the tidings, and burnished his shield
Ruthless Bellona prepared for the quarrel,
Justice presented her sword for the field;
Jove, from Olympus, beheld and commended,
Armed his own eagle in Liberty's cause;
Pallas, the goddess of wisdom, descended,
Bearing the new constitution and laws:—
While o'er her hills and plains,
Swelled these seraphic strains—
Rise, blest Columbia, the queen of the earth;
Soon shall your tyrants flee,
Soon shall your sons be free,
Hail to the day of your Washington's birth.
Mars caught the tidings, and burnished his shield
Ruthless Bellona prepared for the quarrel,
Justice presented her sword for the field;
Jove, from Olympus, beheld and commended,
Armed his own eagle in Liberty's cause;
Pallas, the goddess of wisdom, descended,
Bearing the new constitution and laws:—
126
Swelled these seraphic strains—
Rise, blest Columbia, the queen of the earth;
Soon shall your tyrants flee,
Soon shall your sons be free,
Hail to the day of your Washington's birth.
Hope smiled ecstatic, while Freedom, delighted,
Fixed on a site for her temple to stand;
There is her altar erected and lighted,
Thence does its splendor illumine the land;
Hail an event of such glory and splendor,
Waken your pæans to Washington's name;
Champion of freedom, our nation's defender,
Hero and statesman, eternal his fame;
Still round our verdant plains,
Swell these seraphic strains—
Rise, blest Columbia, the queen of the earth;
Still shall a nation join,
Round Freedom's sacred shrine,
Hail to the day of our Washington's birth.
Fixed on a site for her temple to stand;
There is her altar erected and lighted,
Thence does its splendor illumine the land;
Hail an event of such glory and splendor,
Waken your pæans to Washington's name;
Champion of freedom, our nation's defender,
Hero and statesman, eternal his fame;
Still round our verdant plains,
Swell these seraphic strains—
Rise, blest Columbia, the queen of the earth;
Still shall a nation join,
Round Freedom's sacred shrine,
Hail to the day of our Washington's birth.
| The poetical works of Samuel Woodworth | |