 | The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") |  |
682
AFTER ONE HUNDRED YEARS.
April 30, 1889.
Day when these States came together,
Never to sever and part,
Greet it with hand-grasp and welcome,
Greet it with gladness of heart;
Day when our dear mother country
Wedded her freedom to law,
Greet it with waving of banners,
Greet it with joyous hurrah;
Day of a union grown stronger
After this hundred of years,
Greet it with pageant and feasting,
Greet it with music and cheers.
Never to sever and part,
Greet it with hand-grasp and welcome,
Greet it with gladness of heart;
Day when our dear mother country
Wedded her freedom to law,
Greet it with waving of banners,
Greet it with joyous hurrah;
Day of a union grown stronger
After this hundred of years,
Greet it with pageant and feasting,
Greet it with music and cheers.
Deft were the hands of the founders
After the war had been fought;
Matchless the patience and foresight
Shown in the work which they wrought;
Theirs was a care for the future
Marvellous growth of the land,
Founding the house on the bed rock,
Not on the movable sand;
Theirs was the practical wisdom,
Flexible making their plan—
That which was made for the infant
Fitting itself to the man.
After the war had been fought;
Matchless the patience and foresight
Shown in the work which they wrought;
Theirs was a care for the future
Marvellous growth of the land,
Founding the house on the bed rock,
Not on the movable sand;
Theirs was the practical wisdom,
Flexible making their plan—
That which was made for the infant
Fitting itself to the man.
What if the wiseacres round us
Tell us the fabric must fall,
Honeycombed through with corruption,
Piercing and rottening all?
What if they say party madness,
Sapping the strength of the frame,
Makes us the prey of the vilest,
Freemen alone in the name?
What if these prophets of ruin
Say we shall go like the rest,
Sink like the olden republics,
We, the free States of the West?
Tell us the fabric must fall,
Honeycombed through with corruption,
Piercing and rottening all?
683
Sapping the strength of the frame,
Makes us the prey of the vilest,
Freemen alone in the name?
What if these prophets of ruin
Say we shall go like the rest,
Sink like the olden republics,
We, the free States of the West?
Greed and corruption! Why, these are
Growing as rankly elsewhere;
Must not exuberant vigor
Breed of such vices a share?
That shall not hamper our future
Which has not hindered the past;
Ballots, if handled by freemen,
Slay, when at parasites cast.
'Tis the mere scum on the caldron
Forced to the top by the heat;
Lieth the great mass beneath it,
Limpid and sparkling and sweet.
Growing as rankly elsewhere;
Must not exuberant vigor
Breed of such vices a share?
That shall not hamper our future
Which has not hindered the past;
Ballots, if handled by freemen,
Slay, when at parasites cast.
'Tis the mere scum on the caldron
Forced to the top by the heat;
Lieth the great mass beneath it,
Limpid and sparkling and sweet.
Party! Ah, woe to that country,
Land where no citizen cares
Who may ascend to the summit,
Who have control of affairs;
Better the rivulet's brawling
Than the dull pool and its scum;
Better the noisy complaining
Than the conspiracy dumb.
Clearing the water by motion,
Letting in light of the sun,
Partisan strife is the streamlet—
Long may it noisily run.
Land where no citizen cares
Who may ascend to the summit,
Who have control of affairs;
Better the rivulet's brawling
Than the dull pool and its scum;
Better the noisy complaining
Than the conspiracy dumb.
Clearing the water by motion,
Letting in light of the sun,
Partisan strife is the streamlet—
Long may it noisily run.
684
Faults has the land that we live in—
So all her foemen agree;
Blind to her freedom and virtues,
Blind let these slanderers be.
But the broad blaze of her glory
Proudly each one of us sees
Here, while the flag of the rainbow
Ripples its stripes in the breeze;
Here, while the strong living torrent
Pours in a flood through the street;
Here, while to heart-throb and drum-beat
March the ten thousands of feet.
So all her foemen agree;
Blind to her freedom and virtues,
Blind let these slanderers be.
But the broad blaze of her glory
Proudly each one of us sees
Here, while the flag of the rainbow
Ripples its stripes in the breeze;
Here, while the strong living torrent
Pours in a flood through the street;
Here, while to heart-throb and drum-beat
March the ten thousands of feet.
So to thy twice golden wedding,
Dear mother country of ours,
Come we with music and feasting,
Come with the leaves and the flowers.
Seated as equals at table,
Under one roof-tree secure,
Here are the high-bred and lowly,
Here are the rich and the poor;
Here with the lights and the laughter,
Here with the music and wine—
Each is the peer of his neighbor,
All are true children of thine.
Dear mother country of ours,
Come we with music and feasting,
Come with the leaves and the flowers.
Seated as equals at table,
Under one roof-tree secure,
Here are the high-bred and lowly,
Here are the rich and the poor;
Here with the lights and the laughter,
Here with the music and wine—
Each is the peer of his neighbor,
All are true children of thine.
| The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") | |