Long indeed they have been wooing,
The Pacific and his bride;
Now 'tis time for holy wedding—
Join them by the tide.
Have the snowy surfs not struggled
Many centuries in vain
That their lips might seal the Union?
Lock them main to main.
When the mighty God of nature
Made this favored continent,
He allowed it yet unsevered,
That a race be sent,
Able, mindful of his purpose,
Prone to people, to subdue,
And to bind the land with iron,
Or to force it through.
What the prophet-navigator,
Seeking straits to his Catais,
But began, now consummate it—
Make the strait and pass.
Blessed the eyes that shall behold it,
When the pointing boom shall veer,
Leading through the parted Andes,
While the nations cheer!
There at Suez, Europe's mattock
Cuts the briny road with skill,
And must Darien bid defiance
To the pilot still?
Do we breathe this breath of Knowledge
Purely to enjoy its zest?
Shall the iron arm of science
Like a sluggard rest?
Up then, at it! earnest people!
Bravely wrought thy scorning blade,
But there's fresher fame in store yet,
Glory for the spade.
What we want is naught in envy,
And for all we pioneer;
Let the keels of every nation
Through the isthmus steer.