XXX.
This be our story then, in that far day,
When others come their kindred debt to pay:
In that far day?—O what shall be,
In this dominion of the free,
When we and ours have rendered up our trust,
And men unborn shall tread above our dust?
O what shall be?—He, He alone,
The dread response can make,
Who sitteth on the only throne,
That time shall never shake;
Before whose all-beholding eyes
Ages sweep on, and empires sink and rise.
Then let the song to Him begun,
To Him in reverence end:
Look down in love, Eternal One,
And Thy good cause defend;
Here, late and long, put forth Thy hand,
To guard and guide the Pilgrim’s land.