O visitors to these enchanted shores,
Join the brotherhood of the brothers of the sea—
Not dreamers, but heroic men,
Who love our rock-ribbed, templed hills and gigantic trees, but better yet, our sea!
Take the shoes from off thy feet,
For here thou art on holy ground before nature's truest Angelus,
To feel the awe of power, to think as deep as truth,
And leave a noble soul to uplift the homes of friends.
* * * * *
And deep-eyed patriots,
On every shore and from every inland city, vale and hill,
Look out and up, and live!
In spirit journey abroad over latitudes and longitudes, the equator and the sphere,
To mingle with the vision'd souls of men who gaze far out on our Pacific sea
Toward the slowly rising essential Republic of the world.
* * * * *
Fear not, move out in ship, in thought and plan—
Brave men, move out!
For on the waters of the Earth's vast deeps brotherhood has faith in Fatherhood.
And the God who bound together
The colonies on our New England shores
Will bind together the nations about the seas,
Through fearless men of faith moving toward the best
The alluring best that is still to be.
The fact that man has discovered no celestial body which contains elements other than those of the earth is more than a hint of the unity of creation" and its movement towards a single purpose.—Adapted from Josiah Strong.