Page:Poems Dorr.djvu/140

  From every clime, from every soil,
  The hunted sons of want and toil;
  It gave to each a dwelling-place;
  It blent them in one common race;
  And over all, from sea to sea,
  Wide flew the banner of the free!
  It did not fear the wrath of kings,
  Nor the dread grip of deadlier things—
  Gaunt Famine with its ghastly horde,
  Dishonor sheathing its foul sword,
  Nor faithless friend, nor treacherous blow
  Struck in the dark by stealthy foe;
  For over all its 'wide domain,
  From shore to shore, from main to main,
  From vale to mountain-top, it saw
  The reign of plenty, peace, and law!

VIII.

  Thus fared the Nation, prosperous, great, and free,
  Prophet and herald of the good to be;
  And on its humbler way, in calm content,
  The lesser State, the while, serenely went.
  Safe in her mountain fastnesses she dwelt,
  Her life's first cares forgot, its woes unfelt,
  And thought her bitterest tears had all been shed,
For peace was in her borders, and God reigned overhead.

IX.

But suddenly over the hills there came
A cry that rent her with grief and shame—
A cry from the Nation in sore distress,
Stricken down in the pride of its mightiness!
With passionate ardor up she sprang,
And her voice like the peal of a trumpet rang—