Expugnable but by a nation's rue And bowing down before that equal shrine Whereof his band and he were the most holy sign. O bitter, bitter shade! VII Wilt thou not put the scorn And instant tragic question from thine eyes? Do thy dark brows yet crave That swift and angry stave— Unmeet for this desirous morn That I have striven, striven to evade? Surely some elder singer would arise, Whose harp hath leave to threaten and to mourn Above this people when they go astray. Is Whitman, the strong spirit, overworn? Has Whittier put his yearning wrath away? I will not and I dare not yet believe! Though furtively the sunlight seems to grieve, Out of the gladdening west is sinister With sounds of nameless battle overseas; Showing how wise it is to cast away May wield the driver's whip and grasp the jailer's keys. VIII Was it for this our fathers kept the law? This crown shall crown their struggle and their ruth? Are we the eagle nation Milton saw Mewing its mighty youth, Soon to possess the mountain winds of truth, And be a swift familiar of the sun Where aye before God's face His trumpets run? Shall some less lordly bird be set apart?— Some gross-billed wader where the swamps are fat? Some gorger in the sun? Some prowler with the bat? Ah no! We have not fallen so. IX We are our fathers' sons: let those who lead us know! 'Twas only yesterday sick Cuba's cry Came up the tropic wind, "Now help us, for we die!" Then Alabama heard, And rising, pale, to Maine and Idaho Shouted a burning word. Proud state with proud impassioned state conferred, And at the lifting of a hand sprang forth, East, west, and south, and north, Beautiful armies. Oh, by the sweet blood and young Shed on the awful hill slope of San Juan, By the unforgotten names of eager boys Who might have tasted girls' love and been stung And starry griefs, now the spring nights come on, We charge you, ye who lead us, Breathe on their chivalry no hint of stain! Turn not their new-world victories to gain! One least leaf plucked for chaffer from the bays Of their dear praise, One jot of their pure conquest put to hire, The cup of trembling shall be drainèd quite, With ashes of the hearth shall be made white Shall our intolerable self-disdain Wreak suddenly its anger and its pain; For manifest in the disastrous light We shall discern the right And do it, tardily.-O ye who lead, Take heed! Blindness we may forgive, but baseness we will smite. William Vaughn Moody [1869-1910] THE PARTING OF THE WAYS UNTRAMMELLED Giant of the West, Before thy feet the ways divide: One path leads up to heights sublime; Choose then, nor falter at the start, Be thou the guardian of the weak, No end beyond the avowèd end. Be godlike in the will to serve! Joseph B. Gilder [1858 DIXIE (THE ORIGINAL VERSION] I WISH I was in de land ob cotton, Look away, look away, look away, In Dixie land whar I was born in, Early on one frosty mornin', Dixie land! Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land! Chorus-Den I wish I was in Dixie! Hooray! Hooray! In Dixie's land we'll took our stand, to lib an' die in Dixie, Away, away, away down south in Dixie! Old missus marry Will de weaber, When he put his arm around 'er, His face was sharp as a butcher cleaber, While missus libbed, she libbed in clover, Buckwheat cakes an' stony batter Now if you want to drive 'way sorrow, Den hoe it down an' scratch your grabble, Daniel Decatur Emmett [1815-1904] DIXIE SOUTHRONS, hear your country call you! To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie! Hurrah! hurrah! For Dixie's land we take our stand, And live or die for Dixie! Hear the Northern thunders mutter! Fear no danger! Shun no labor! How the South's great heart rejoices |