Poems (Bradford)/To ann arbor
TO ANN ARBOR.
I stood at the top of the Boulevarde And gazed at the valley below. I saw the tall spires of the city And the slow-moving Huron. Aloft, on the opposite hill I beheld the domes and the towers Of the great University That first of all the States Upheld the lamp of learning To the vast Middle West. Then in memory I saw the grand old man Who gave her her fine reputation—Dr. Angell, our beloved President, Who for thirty years there lived and ruled, I thought of the men and women Who had sat beneath his teaching Then gone forth to fill their places in a world of men, Lawyers and teachers and preachers. And that large group of fine mettle Who laid down their lives in foreign lands To save the souls of the heathen. I thought of the men who answered Columbia's call When civil war threatened to rend her asunder. Their memory clings round the cannon. Then suffering Cuba called for aid, And America sprang to arms, And Michigan stood in the fore-front, In the noblest war, until now, ever waged. Not with a hope for selfish gain But from pure love of humanity. And Cuba free, Cuba libre, Feels her heart throb with gratitude. And to-day, in this mightiest conflict Since ever the world began Dries with a single voice: "Take my money, my men, my all, And use them as yours To make the world safe for Democracy." And Michigan's sons have gone out In the pride of their lusty manhood To offer them selves as a wall of men Betwixt the world and the Hun. To fight, perchance to fall! If so, what then? Better by far is a glorious death Than a coward's life of dishonor. O Michigan, mother of State Universities! Thou art beloved of my soul,As thou art of the souls Of all thy myriad sons and daughters; Long may you live and flourish And stand, in the time to come, As you stood in the days that are gone,Ever in the front of the battle.