Where billows break along a storied strand[3],
Heroic wave, a fair and favored land.
Realm of a rising glory—this thy name!
The cradle of the Kingdom—this thy fame!
There rose the morn—though flecked with fire and blood—
The morn benign of human brotherhood,
Foredestined to a passing cloud's eclipse. 2730
Self-trammeled cause, harried by hounds and whips
Of persecution, whose infuriate maw,
Usurping oft the form and force of law,—
To lawless hands a far too ready rod,—
Had fain engulfed the growing work of God.
Widowed, bereft, a land left desolate,
A wounded bird that mourns a driven mate,
The plumage from its bleeding body torn,
And scattered wide o'er realms remote, forlorn.
On, Ephraim, on! thy pilgrim flight renew. 2740
Land of the Sun—Shinea's land[4]—adieu!
Yet stay! Ere storm could burst, was visioned there,
Within the portal of the House of Prayer,
A promise, a fulfillment, long foretold:
Elias and Messias there behold!
With angel keepers of the ancient keys
Of gathering and of sealing mysteries.
Haloed with fire, while burns the heavenly glow,
Upon the Prophet they their powers bestow[5].
Speed then swift messengers his face before, 2750
To blaze his sacred name on every shore;
Chosen and missioned from the sending skies,
The slumbering nations to evangelize.
Resounds 'gainst error's shield truth's ringing lance,
Unlettered light 'gainst learned ignorance;
Priestcraft dethroned, by Priesthood downward hurled,
While ancient thunder shakes the modern world.
Already, to redeem red Laman's bands[6],
Have virile footprints prest those virgin lands,
Where westering empire, in creative might, 2760
Rolls a new world upon the wondering sight;
Where flower-starred prairies, in the far extent,
Kiss with soft lips the bending firmament,
And sea-like rivers, solitary, lone,
Pour their proud waters toward the burning zone.
Land of all lands the rarest[7], where shall rise,—
Mirrored magnificence of earth and skies,
Each gate a pearl, each pinnacle a gem,—
The jasper walls of New Jerusalem;
The golden glory of the hemispheres, 2770
Jehovah's throne through all the Thousand Years.
The land where Adam fell, where Enoch rose,
Where time began and history shall close.
Thereto and thence, by brand and fagot driven,
His fault to man, his fealty to heaven,
With here and there, perchance, an idle word
Vainglorious zeal or vengeful might afford,
Flies Ephraim, scorched and scourged, from Japheth's
wrath[8],
Pushed on and on o'er steep and thorny path, 2780
Whipt, plundered, wounded, bleeding, to the goal,
Where joy in fullness crowns the conquering soul.