William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
The RevolutionersGeorge B. Wallis
A
With the thin azure seem to mix;
Thus ye are fading from our sight,
Spirits of Seventy-six.
A health to you—“A nation’s praise
Gladden the winter of your life,
The evening of your days.”
A temple worthy of your stock—
Cemented, by the blood ye spilt,
Into a solid rock.
The idol of our country’s youth;
As firm as Justice—fair as Peace:
As beautiful as Truth.
Some of the hope-forlorn, that hurl’d
The haughty tyrant of the sea
Off from the western world.
Who, on the field of battle, still
Can show its scars upon his breast,
Or tell of Bunker’s hill.
When Providence was pleased to bear
The army, safely, in its flight
Across the Delaware.
What deeds of valour have been done!
Among the freeborn sons of Mars,
It stood by Washington—
A pillar of fire throughout the night;”
The solace of the weary way,
The spirit of the fight.
’Tis nurtured by the plough and spade:
And nations now, of one accord,
Rejoice beneath its shade.
Among us, it shall be our aim
To manifest a will to pay
The debt ye well may claim.
The striplings of our sons shall bring
The future daughters of the land,
To strew the flowers of spring.