 | Later Lyrics |  |
324
WELCOME.
They are coming, O our brothers! they are coming;
From the formless distance creeps the growing sound,
Like a rill-fed torrent, in whose rapid summing
Stream doth follow stream, till waves of joy abound.
From the formless distance creeps the growing sound,
Like a rill-fed torrent, in whose rapid summing
Stream doth follow stream, till waves of joy abound.
These have languished in the shadow of the prison,
Long with hunger pains and bitter fever low:
Welcome back our lost, from living graves arisen,
From the wild despite and malice of the foe.
Long with hunger pains and bitter fever low:
Welcome back our lost, from living graves arisen,
From the wild despite and malice of the foe.
These have heard the cannon roar, the musket rattle;
Where grim death affronted, these have flown before:
Set their standards in the fiery tide of battle
Till the red waves parted, and the right went o'er.
Where grim death affronted, these have flown before:
Set their standards in the fiery tide of battle
Till the red waves parted, and the right went o'er.
325
As the Genii of the clouds refresh with water
Plants and precious seeds that bear the life of States,
These have poured their blood in meadows sown with slaughter,
Where the harvest of the Land's redemption waits.
Plants and precious seeds that bear the life of States,
These have poured their blood in meadows sown with slaughter,
Where the harvest of the Land's redemption waits.
Haste, ye mothers! let your household vigils slacken;
In your glad attire arrayed, go banded forth:
For these martial men, these ranks the sun doth blacken,
Are your babes indeed, the jewels of the North.
In your glad attire arrayed, go banded forth:
For these martial men, these ranks the sun doth blacken,
Are your babes indeed, the jewels of the North.
By the loves ye prize and live for, ask that never
Need so sore again the heart of home invade:
Neither brazen trump, nor wires that wail and quiver,
Bid you yield the living, and take back the dead.
Need so sore again the heart of home invade:
Neither brazen trump, nor wires that wail and quiver,
Bid you yield the living, and take back the dead.
Better let them build who rear the house of nations
Than that Fate should rock it to foundation stone:
Leave the earth her storms, the stars their perturbations,
Steadfast welfare stays where Justice binds her zone.
Than that Fate should rock it to foundation stone:
Leave the earth her storms, the stars their perturbations,
Steadfast welfare stays where Justice binds her zone.
326
When the human faults that mix in human labor
Miss the measure set to caution and constrain,
Let the wise of heart instruct his ruder neighbor,
Let the loving soul hold violence in chain.
Miss the measure set to caution and constrain,
Let the wise of heart instruct his ruder neighbor,
Let the loving soul hold violence in chain.
But when Falsehood lifts her challenge cry stupendous,
When the fiery angel bars our gates of bliss,
Ask the holy heavens such hosts again to lend us,
With such leaders, such a righteous cause as this.
When the fiery angel bars our gates of bliss,
Ask the holy heavens such hosts again to lend us,
With such leaders, such a righteous cause as this.
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