Transcription
Columbia
Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies,
The genius commands thee, with raptures behold,
While ages on ages thy splendors unfold:
Thy reign is the last and the noblest of time,
Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime,
Let the crimes of the east never encrimson thy name,
Be freedom, and science, and virtue thy fame.
To conquest and slaughter let Europe aspire,
Whelm nations in blood, or warp cities in fire
Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall defend,
And triumph pursue them and glory attend.
A world is thy realm, for a world be thy laws,
Enlarged as thy empire, and just as thy cause,
On freedom’s broad basis, that empire shall rise,
Extend with the main, and dissolve with the skies.
Fair science her gate to thy sons shall unbar,
And the east see thy morn hide the beams of her star,
New bards and new sages unrivalled shall soar,
To fame unextinguished, when time is no more.
To the last refuge of virtue assigned,
Shall fly from all nations, the best of mankind,
There, grateful to heaven, with transport shall bring,
Their incense more fragrant than odors of spring.
Nor less shall thy fair ones to glory descend,
And genius and beauty in harmony blend,
Their graces of form shall awake pure desire,
And the charms of the soul still enliven the fire,
Their sweetness unmingled, their mannners refined,
And virtue’s bright image enstamped on the mind,
With peace and sweet rapture shall teach life to glow,
And light up a smile in the aspect of woe.
Thy fleets to all regions thy power shall display,
The nations admire and the ocean obey,
Each shore to thy glory its tribute unfold,
And the east and south yield their spices and gold,
As the day-spring unbounded thy splendors shall flow,
And earth’s little kingdoms before thee shall bow,
While the ensigns of union in triumph unfurled,
Hush anarchy’s sway, and give peace to the world.
Thus down alone valley with cedars overspread,
From the noise of the town I pensively strayed,
The bloom from the face of fair heave n retired,
The wind ceased to murmur, the thunders expired,
Perfumes as of Eden, flowed sweetly along,
And a voice as of angels, enchantingly sung,
Columbia, Columbia! to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies.
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