Classic Poem

Lo! plain and sky are brothers; peak
And cloud confer; the rivers spread
At length to mighty seas!
The soul is lifted up
In room whose walls share God's; wherein
Empire has staked off a homestead!

Roll on, ye prairies of the West,
Roll on, like unsailed seas away!
I love thy silence
And thy mysterious room;
Roll on, ye deserts unconfined,
Roll on into the boundless day!

Roll on, ye rivers of the West,
Roll on, through canyons to the sea!
Ye chant a harmony
Whereto free people march!
Roll on, O Oregon, roll on!
Roll on, O thund'rous Yosemite!

Ye are the grand-voiced singers of
The great Republic! Ye echo
Thro' the years the hymn of
Freedom and of power;
The song of union and of peace
For aye is in thy troubled flow!

Loom! loom, ye far cold summits of
The West! Cloud-girt, snow-crown'd, shine on!
Keep watch toward the dawn;
Keep watch toward the night!
Loom! loom, ye silent sentinels,
O'er Freedom's vast dominions!

Move on, world of the Occident,
Move on! Thy footfalls thro' the globe
Are heard as thou marchest
Into that larger day
Whose dawn lights up the armored front
In Cuba and the Philippines.