Classic Poem

When first the Sun o'er Ocean glowed,
And Earth unveiled her virgin breast,
Supreme mid Nature's vast abode,
Was heard the Almighty's dread behest:
Rise, Columbia, brave and free,
Poise the Globe, and bound the Sea!

In darkness wrapped, with fetters chained,
Will ages grope, debased and blind;
With blood the human hand be stained,
With tyrant power, the human mind.
Rise, Columbia, &c.

But, lo, across the Atlantick floods,
The Star-directed pilgrim sails!
See! felled by Commerce, float thy woods;
And, clothed by Ceres, wave thy vales!
Rise, Columbia, &c.

Remote from realms of rival fame,
Thy bulwark is thy mound of waves;
The Sea, thy birth-right, Thou must claim,
Or, subject, yield the soil it laves.
Rise, Columbia, &c.

Nor yet, though skilled, delight in arms;
Peace and, her offspring, arts be thine;
The face of Freedom scarce has charms,
When on her cheeks no dimples shine.
Rise, Columbia, &c.

While Fame for thee, her wreath entwines,
To bless, thy nobler triumph prove;
And, though the eagle haunts thy pines,
Beneath thy willows shield the dove.
Rise, Columbia, &c.

When bolts the flame, or whelms the wave,
Be thine to rule the wayward hour!
Bid Death unbar the watery grave,
" And Vulcan yield to Neptune's power. "
Rise, Columbia, &c.

Revered in arms, in peace humane,
No shore, nor realm shall bound thy sway;
While all the virtues own thy reign,
And subject elements obey!
Rise, Columbia, brave and free,
Bless the Globe, and rule the sea.