THE CREED OF AN AMERICAN
In God our Father, and in all men’s Sonship;
In Brother-love and breaking down of barriers;
In Law that is the just will of the People
Shaped, and still shaping, to the People’s need;
In equal Freedom and in equal Service,
Duties and Rights: in all these I believe.
In these great States bound in a greater Union,
Many in One, the framework of the Fathers,
Nobly devised, a forecast of the future
When all the Nations gather in God’s fold;
The great Experiment, the high Adventure,
The captain Hope: in all this I believe.
In this bright Flag of Liberty and Union:
Its red, the symbol of the blood of brothers
That flows through men of every race and nation;
Its white, the symbol of the peace between them
That shall be when God’s Will has wrought as leaven;
Its stars, the symbol of many Powers that move
Clustering together without clash or conflict,
In the deep blue of the vast, tender sky
That is the all-enfolding mantle of God—
With my whole soul in all these I believe.
That I in peace must show my true allegiance
To this bright Flag, this constellated Union,
By square-done work and clean unselfish living;
That I in war must show my true allegiance—
While war shall linger in this world to threaten
Such Sanctities as these—even by my dying:
In all this I believe. Amen. Amen.