48
Poem for Independence Day.
Not all in vain their blood so free
Was spilled like rain-drops o'er the earth,
But gathering in one mighty sea
Waters the tree of liberty,
Which in each freeman's heart finds birth.
Was spilled like rain-drops o'er the earth,
But gathering in one mighty sea
Waters the tree of liberty,
Which in each freeman's heart finds birth.
How shall we celebrate the hour,
Which set our own loved country free?
With joyous shout in peaceful bower,
With cannon's roar, and music's power,
We'll hail the Nation's jubilee.
Which set our own loved country free?
With joyous shout in peaceful bower,
With cannon's roar, and music's power,
We'll hail the Nation's jubilee.
Our banner, with its stripe and star,
We'll keep unstained from sire to son—
Each breeze shall waft its folds afar,
Unsullied, as when first in war
It waved o'er fields of vict'ry won.
We'll keep unstained from sire to son—
Each breeze shall waft its folds afar,
Unsullied, as when first in war
It waved o'er fields of vict'ry won.
We'll teach our children freedom's song,
To lisp in artless joyous glee,
And ever, as the strains prolong,
We'll shout the echo loud and long,
Our own America is free!
To lisp in artless joyous glee,
And ever, as the strains prolong,
We'll shout the echo loud and long,
Our own America is free!
