Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
Young AmericaOld England
By Charles Kent (18231902)(1852)
W
By the sordid lust of gain?
Shall the realms of peace be ravaged
By the rulers of the main
For the greed of gold or glory?
No,—forbid it, God the Lord!
Young America—Old England—
Hand-in-hand, not sword to sword!
Thus allied by kindred fame,
Speaking both one common language,
Men with blood and bards the same?
Such dark crime can never follow
Foolish taunt or idle word:
Young America—Old England—
Hand-in-hand, not sword to sword!
Till their many wreaths are one,—
Yours the pride in burly Cromwell,
Ours in honest Washington?
With the radiance of past annals
Shall the future not be stored?
Young America—Old England—
Hand-in-hand, not sword to sword!
We are still brought side by side,
By the peaceful navies Commerce
Scatters grandly o’er the tide.
Shall we wake our dormant thunders
Where toil-laden ships are moored?
Young America—Old England—
Hand-in-hand, not sword to sword!
Prized the songs our poets sung
Since the golden day when Genius
First drew music from our tongue?
Godlike Shakespeare, seerlike Milton,
All now cry with one accord,
Young America—Old England—
Hand-in-hand, not sword to sword!
On the treasures each possest
In the homely hues of Hogarth,
In the sacred dyes of West:
And not less on Powers than Flaxman
Phidian inspiration poured?
Young America—Old England—
Hand-in-hand, not sword to sword!
Throwing charms around our lot,
Through each tale of gentle Irving,
Each romance of gorgeous Scott.
And shall war pollute the cloudland,
Battle dint the fairy sward?
Young America—Old England—
Hand-in-hand, not sword to sword!
By the sordid lust of gain?
Shall the realms of peace be ravaged
By the rulers of the main
For the greed of gold or glory?
No,—forbid it, God the Lord!
Young America—Old England—
Hand-in-hand, not sword to sword!