| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
| |
| 168. Ode |
| | | Sung in the Town Hall, Concord, July 4, 1857 |
| | | By Ralph Waldo Emerson |
| |
| |
| O TENDERLY the haughty day | |
| Fills his blue urn with fire; | |
| One morn is in the mighty heaven, | |
| And one in our desire. | |
| |
| The cannon booms from town to town, | 5 |
| Our pulses beat not less, | |
| The joy-bells chime their tidings down, | |
| Which children’s voices bless. | |
| |
| For He that flung the broad blue fold | |
| O’er-mantling land and sea, | 10 |
| One third part of the sky unrolled | |
| For the banner of the free. | |
| |
| The men are ripe of Saxon kind | |
| To build an equal state,— | |
| To take the statute from the mind | 15 |
| And make of duty fate. | |
| |
| United States! the ages plead,— | |
| Present and Past in under-song,— | |
| Go put your creed into your deed, | |
| Nor speak with double tongue. | 20 |
| |
| For sea and land don’t understand | |
| Nor skies without a frown | |
| See rights for which the one hand fights | |
| By the other cloven down. | |
| |
| Be just at home; then write your scroll | 25 |
| Of honor o’er the sea, | |
| And bid the broad Atlantic roll | |
| A ferry of the free. | |
| |
| And henceforth there shall be no chain, | |
| Save underneath the sea | 30 |
| The wires shall murmur through the main | |
| Sweet songs of liberty. | |
| |
| The conscious stars accord above, | |
| The waters wild below, | |
| And under, through the cable wove, | 35 |
| Her fiery errands go. | |
| |
| For He that worketh high and wise, | |
| Nor pauses in his plan, | |
| Will take the sun out of the skies | |
| Ere freedom out of man. | 40 |
| |
|
|
|
