William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
ColumbiaTimothy Dwight (17521817)
C
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies;
Thy genius commands thee, with raptures behold,
While ages on ages thy splendours 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 ne’er encrimson thy name:
Be freedom, and science, and virtue thy fame.
Whelm nations in blood, and wrap 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 thine empire, and just as thy cause;
On freedom’s broad basis that empire shall rise,
Extend with the main, and dissolve with the skies.
And the east see thy morn hide the beams of her star;
New bards and new sages unrivall’d shall soar,
To fame unextinguish’d, when time is no more:
To thee, the last refuge of virtue design’d,
Shall fly, from all nations, the best of mankind;
Here, grateful to Heaven, with transports shall bring
Their incense, more fragrant than odours of spring.
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 manners refined,
And virtue’s bright image instamped on the mind;
With peace and soft rapture shall teach life to glow,
And light up a smile in the aspect of wo.
The nations admire, and the ocean obey;
Each shore to thy glory its tribute unfold,
And the east and the south yield their spices and gold;
As the day-spring unbounded thy splendours shall flow;
And earth’s little kingdoms before thee shall bow;
While the ensigns of union, in triumph unfurl’d,
Hush the tumults of war, and give peace to the world.
From the noise of the city I pensively strayed,
The gloom from the face of fair heaven retired,
The winds 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.