Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.
By Ralph WaldoEmerson168 Ode
O
Fills his blue urn with fire;
One morn is in the mighty heaven,
And one in our desire.
Our pulses beat not less,
The joy-bells chime their tidings down,
Which children’s voices bless.
O’er-mantling land and sea,
One third part of the sky unrolled
For the banner of the free.
To build an equal state,—
To take the statute from the mind
And make of duty fate.
Present and Past in under-song,—
Go put your creed into your deed,
Nor speak with double tongue.
Nor skies without a frown
See rights for which the one hand fights
By the other cloven down.
Of honor o’er the sea,
And bid the broad Atlantic roll
A ferry of the free.
Save underneath the sea
The wires shall murmur through the main
Sweet songs of liberty.
The waters wild below,
And under, through the cable wove,
Her fiery errands go.
Nor pauses in his plan,
Will take the sun out of the skies
Ere freedom out of man.