The United States
by James Russell Lowell (1819 � 1891) |
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SEVEN years long was the bow
Of battle bent, and the
heightening
Storm-heaps convulsed with the throe
Of
their uncontainable lightning;
Seven years long heard the
sea
Crash of navies and wave-borne thunder;
Then
drifted the cloud-rack a-lee,
And new stars were seen, a
world's wonder;
Each by her sisters made bright,
All
binding all to their stations,
Cluster of manifold light
Startling the old constellations:
Men looked up and grew
pale:
Was it a comet or star,
Omen of blessing or
bale,
Hung o'er the ocean afar?
Stormy the day of
her birth:
Was she not born of the strong,
She, the
last ripeness of earth,
Beautiful, prophesied long?
Stormy the days of her prime:
Hers are the pulses that
beat
Higher for perils sublime,
Making them fawn at
her feet.
Was she not born of the strong?
Was she not
born of the wise?
Daring and counsel belong
Of right
to her confident eyes:
Human and motherly they,
Careless of station or race:
Hearken! her children to-day
Shout for the joy of her face. |
By James Russell Lowell (1819 � 1891)
Listed March 14, 2014 |
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