THE ROCK OF LIBERTY A PILGRIM ODE, 1620–1920[1]

THE ROCK OF LIBERTY A PILGRIM ODE, 1620–1920^[1]

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I. VISION

PRAYER OF SAILING

Lord God of Hosts, Defender of the weak,

With thine Almighty arm deliver us,

Thy suffering people, exiled and forlorn,

Pilgrims of faith, who dream a glorious dream!

Beyond the deep, where no man knows the way,

To savage shores beneath an alien sky,

Guide us in hope to Liberty and Peace.

Jehovah! Hearken to thy people’s cry!

Oh, grant us freedom, Lord, within thy law,

To toil or worship, live or die for Thee,

In thy name building that which shall endure

Beyond the little while we have to live.

THE VISION

O rolling waste of unimagined ocean,

Dividing continents and parting men!

132Yield to the fragile sails of destiny,

Maimed by the will that conquers mighty force!

Bow to the courage that endures to die,

The faith that anchors to a solid Rock.

O waves that do divide! The time will come

When water shall unite the sundered lands.

Then over sea, under the sea and through,

Shall fare the galleons of brotherhood,

Bearing the freight of liberty and love

From a great nation, heir of our desire,

To every corner of the peopled earth.

THE MAYFLOWER

O Pilgrims in a cockle frail

Upon a perilous quest,

Out of the old world making sail

Into the golden west;

Beyond the misty ocean veil

Awaits a Vision blest!

A simple little yeoman band,

None of the rich or great,

133But stout of heart and strong of hand,

The pioneers of fate;

The patient builders of a land,

The founders of a State!

Your fragile bark adventuring

Upon a fearful sea,—

Awful the cargo that you bring;

The seeds of destiny,

Promise of future harvesting

In sheaves of liberty.

CHORUS OF WOMEN

The peril of the frozen wave

Our faith cannot betray;

Mothers and maidens, be ye brave,

And teach the babes to pray,—

“Jehovah! Who art strong to save,

Guide to Thy chosen Bay!”

Famine and cold and fever come

To meet us on the shore;

Labor and want and sorrow, dumb

For joys we see no more.

134O Lord, give hope in a new home;

Strength for what lies before!

Yea, though he slay with scourge forlorn,

We trust Jehovah’s will.

Although the pitying rows of corn

Hide many a little hill

Where lie our loved and newly-born;

Our God is with us still.

CHORUS OF MEN

No snarling danger in its den

Can make our courage quail;

No prowling savage of the fen

Will turn our color pale,

Nor treachery of brother men

Make our endeavor fail.

With freedom are our furrows filled,

To blossom in the spring.

To freedom run the roads we build:

“Freedom!” the gray walls sing.

For Freedom is the word we willed

Should through the ages ring!

135

II. STRUGGLE

PSALM

The Lord is my strength; of whom shall I be afraid?

He hath brought me forth into a place of Liberty.

Oh what great and sore troubles hast Thou showed me,

And yet dost Thou quicken me again,

Yea, and shalt bring me up again out of the deep.

Thou hast tried me as silver is tried.

The Lord will give strength to His people.

The Lord will bless His people with peace.

THE CAPTAIN

We who have challenged fate

To buy the boon of peace,

Shall we not watch and wait,

Nor from the vigil cease?

Pray God for strength and trust his word,

Guarding our treasure with a sword!

We who have burned the past

Upon an altar fire,

136Will pay our lives at last

To win the soul’s desire.

Give us our peace! Renew our faith,

O Lord, to seek it unto death!

THE ELDER

Come, let us build a temple to God,

Here in the wilderness, made by our might,

Set in our midst, the center of life.

Smite the tall pines that fall with a roar!

Hew the great logs and heave them in place

Square is the meeting-house, simple and stern,

Barren of beauty, honestly builded,

A shield from the arrow that flieth by day,

A haven from storm and peril of night.

Slender the spire that points to the sky,

First one of many to blaze out a path

Through the wild jungle, lifting men’s eyes

Out of the shadow into the light.

Old men and maidens, young men and children,

Enter His house with thanksgiving and praise!

137

PILGRIM MOTHERS

Patter, patter, in and out,

Go the women’s loyal feet.

Hither, thither, roundabout,

Late and early hear the beat;

To the crib, the well, the hay,

From the kitchen to the loom;

Treading out a people’s way,

From the cradle to the tomb.

Flutter, flutter, to and fro,

Busy hands fly out and in.

Flaxen threads are white as snow,—

Rough the little hands that spin;

Drawing out the thread of life,

Working early, winding late;

Gentle mother, noble wife,

Knitting firm a nation’s fate.

PILGRIM FATHERS

Lord of the harvest and the toil,

Prosper the laborer on thy soil.

138Steady the shoulder to the plow,

And let there be no faltering now.

Our lot is in a goodly land;

Inspire the heart and steel the hand

To build a fabric grandly sure

In righteousness that shall endure!

THE CONGREGATION

Sing to the Lord! Here there shall be

No leading into captivity,

And no complaining on our shore.

But we will guard the lowly poor,

The little children and the weak,

And they shall find the prize they seek.

O Liberty! The corner-stone

Of a greater hope than men have known!

139

III. ACHIEVEMENT

SONS

We have felled the forest and pierced the hill;

We have scoured the prairie and venture still,

Turning the torrent to our behest,

Sons of the Pilgrims, East and West.

DAUGHTERS

We have followed our men to make a home;

Wherever they fared we dared to come,

From the mountain top to the river mouth,

Daughters of Pilgrims, North and South.

THE NEW GENERATION

We have builded well by the waterside,

We have garnered a harvest far and wide,

Setting our mark from sea to sea,

Heirs of the Pilgrim liberty.

THE ALARUM

Daughters of men, arise!

Sons of the soil, awake!

140What are the hopes ye prize

When Freedom is at stake?

Hark to a warning cry

Out of the sacred dust;

Dare all for Liberty,

Give all to keep the trust!

“Pray God for strength and trust his word,

Guarding our treasure with a sword!”

Arise, O glorious Land,

And make confusion cease!

The foes of Freedom stand

Across the path of peace.

In loyal might arrayed

Assail the host of shame.

Forward! Unafraid!

In God’s Almighty name!

“Give us our peace! Renew our faith,

O Lord, to seek it unto death!”

America! Be strong!

Heir of a noble race,

141Bear the proud Flag along

Up to the highest place.

The road our fathers made

Is bright as living flame.

Forward! Unafraid!

In God’s Almighty name!

THE VISION FULFILLED

O waves that did divide! The time has come

When water shall unite the sundered lands!

Now over sea, under the sea and through,

Shall fare the galleons of brotherhood,

Bearing the freight of liberty and love

From the great Nation, heir of men’s desire,

To every corner of the peopled earth.

THE UNION

Lovely is this, the land of our abiding,

From shore to shore across the leagues of freedom,

From North to South in merciful abundance;

Land of our heart, America!

142The little school, the farmstead, and the chapel,

Type of the treasure that our fathers cherished,

Followed the feet that tramped beyond the mountains,

Making thy ways, America!

Out of the East came men in mighty millions,

Into the savage corners of the country,

Scattering wide the seed of old tradition,

Germ of thy power, America!

From deep to deep, from gulf to frozen forest,

The mountain and the plain have known their courage,

The harbor and the town have seen their wisdom,

Quickening thee, America!

They chained the Titan, Steam, to be their servant;

143They made the thunderbolt to do their bidding,

And gave thee Light to be thy living halo,

Glorious one, America!

The old world turned to thee in time of trouble,

The people held their empty hands for succor;

Thy bread and wine of love went forth to feed them,

Strength of thy strength, America!

Thy Liberty became the hope of nations;

To Victory thy banner crossed the ocean,

Borne by the gallant sons of Pilgrim honor,

Shouting thy name—“America!”

Yet are we humble, mindful of the fathers.

Not unto us, but unto God the glory,

Who gave them grace, and made us to inherit

Their sacred trust,—America!

144

DOXOLOGY

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen.

146The Riverside Press

CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS

U . S . A

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.