Must the globe be always girded
Ere we get to Bramah's priest?
Take the tissues of your Lowells
Westward to the East.
Ye, that vanquish pain and distance,
Ye, enmeshing Time with wire,
Court ye patiently forever
Yon Antarctic ire?
Shall the mariner forever
Double the impending capes,
While his longsome and retracing
Needless course he shapes?
What was daring for our fathers,
To defy those billows fierce,
Is but tame for their descendants;
We are bid to pierce.
Ye that fight with printing armies,
Settle sons on forlorn track,
As the Romans flung their eagles,
But to win them back.
Who, undoubting, worship boldness,
And, if baffled, bolder rise,
Shall we lag when grandeur beckons
To this good emprize?
Let the vastness not appal us;
Greatness is thy destiny.
Let the doubters not recall us:
Venture suits the free.
Like a seer, I see her throning,
Winland strong in freedom's health,
Warding peace on both the waters,
Widest Commonwealth.
Crowned with wreaths that still grow greener,
Guerdon for untiring pain,
For the wise, the stout, and steadfast:
Rend the land in twain.
Cleave America asunder,
This is worthy work for thee.
Hark! The seas roll up imploring
"Make the ocean free."