Poems (Jordan)/The Puritans
THE PURITANS
Faces of dauntless purity—Each feature carved with the heart-toolsOf strong Experience—DutyHath mothered you! Nor schools—Of human fashioning—have taughtThe knowledges, which thus have wroughtIn ev'ry line, the Feeling—fraughtExpression—live expression,—ofThose days of long ago, when Love(When Need cried out with Justice for the blow)With brawny arm, crushed ev'ry foeWhich menaced rude-built homes, and byIts sturdy goodness, thus hast madeA Fence about the LibertyOf this, our Land! else had she strayedTo anarchy, and worn the pathTo ruin hard with constant treadNow—honored be ye all!—your FaithIs by our Sight interpreted!