Songs of Many Seasons (1862-74) | Page 6

is laid! O gallant youth
With yet unsilvered brow,
If
Heaven should lose and Hell should win,
On whom shall lie the
mortal sin,
That cries aloud, It might have been?
God calls
you--answer NOW.
1862.
NEVER OR NOW
AN APPEAL
LISTEN, young heroes! your country is calling!
Time strikes the hour
for the brave and the true!
Now, while the foremost are fighting and
falling,
Fill up the ranks that have opened for you!
You whom the fathers made free and defended,
Stain not the scroll
that emblazons their fame
You whose fair heritage spotless
descended,
Leave not your children a birthright of shame!
Stay not for questions while Freedom. stands gasping!
Wait not till
Honor lies wrapped in his pall!
Brief the lips' meeting be, swift the
hands' clasping,--
"Off for the wars!" is enough for them all!
Break from the arms that would fondly caress you!
Hark! 't is the

bugle-blast, sabres are drawn!
Mothers shall pray for you, fathers
shall bless you,
Maidens shall weep for you when you are gone!
Never or now! cries the blood of a nation,
Poured on the turf where
the red rose should bloom;
Now is the day and the hour of
salvation,--
Never or now! peals the trumpet of doom!
Never or now! roars the hoarse-throated cannon
Through the black
canopy blotting the skies;
Never or now! flaps the shell-blasted
pennon
O'er the deep ooze where the Cumberland lies!
From the foul dens where our brothers are dying,
Aliens and foes in
the land of their birth,--
From the rank swamps where our martyrs are
lying
Pleading in vain for a handful of earth,--
From the hot plains where they perish outnumbered,
Furrowed and
ridged by the battle-field's plough,
Comes the loud summons; too
long you have slumbered,
Hear the last Angel-trump,--Never or Now!
1862.
ONE COUNTRY
ONE country! Treason's writhing asp
Struck madly at her girdle's
clasp,
And Hatred wrenched with might and main
To rend its
welded links in twain,
While Mammon hugged his golden calf

Content to take one broken half,
While thankless churls stood idly by

And heard unmoved a nation's cry!
One country! "Nay,"--the tyrant crew
Shrieked from their dens,--"it
shall be two!
Ill bodes to us this monstrous birth,
That scowls on all
the thrones of earth,
Too broad yon starry cluster shines,
Too
proudly tower the New-World pines,
Tear down the 'banner of the
free,'
And cleave their land from sea to sea!"

One country still, though foe and "friend"
Our seamless empire strove
to rend;
Safe! safe' though all the fiends of hell
Join the red
murderers' battle-yell!
What though the lifted sabres gleam,
The
cannons frown by shore and stream,--
The sabres clash, the cannons
thrill,
In wild accord, One country still!
One country! in her stress and strain
We heard the breaking of a chain!

Look where the conquering Nation swings
Her iron flail,--its
shivered rings!
Forged by the rebels' crimson hand,
That bolt of
wrath shall scourge the land
Till Peace proclaims on sea and shore

One Country now and evermore!
1865.
GOD SAVE THE FLAG
WASHED in the blood of the brave and the blooming,
Snatched from
the altars of insolent foes,
Burning with star-fires, but never
consuming,
Flash its broad ribbons of lily and rose.
Vainly the prophets of Baal would rend it,
Vainly his worshippers
pray for its fall;
Thousands have died for it, millions defend it,

Emblem of justice and mercy to all:
Justice that reddens the sky with her terrors,
Mercy that comes with
her white-handed train,
Soothing all passions, redeeming all errors,

'Sheathing the sabre and breaking the chain.
Borne on the deluge of old usurpations,
Drifted our Ark o'er the
desolate seas,
Bearing the rainbow of hope to the nations,
Torn
from the storm-cloud and flung to the breeze!
God bless the Flag and its loyal defenders,
While its broad folds o'er
the battle-field wave,
Till the dim star-wreath rekindle its splendors,

Washed from its stains in the blood of the brave!

1865.
HYMN AFTER THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
GIVER of all that crowns our days,
With grateful hearts we sing thy
praise;
Through deep and desert led by Thee,
Our promised land at
last we see.
Ruler of Nations, judge our cause!
If we have kept thy holy laws,

The sons of Belial curse in vain
The day that rends the captive's
chain.
Thou God of vengeance! Israel's Lord!
Break in their grasp the shield
and sword,
And make thy righteous judgments known
Till all thy
foes are overthrown!
Then, Father, lay thy healing hand
In mercy on our stricken land;

Lead all its wanderers to the fold,
And be their Shepherd as of old.
So shall one Nation's song ascend
To Thee, our Ruler, Father, Friend,

While Heaven's wide arch resounds again
With Peace on earth,
good-will to men!
1865.
HYMN FOR THE FAIR AT CHICAGO
O GOD! in danger's darkest hour,
In battle's deadliest field,
Thy
name has been our Nation's tower,
Thy truth her help and shield.
Our lips should fill the air with praise,
Nor pay the debt we owe,
So
high above the songs we raise
The floods of mercy flow.
Yet Thou wilt hear the prayer we speak,
The song of praise we sing,--

Thy children, who thine altar seek
Their grateful gifts to bring.

Thine altar is the sufferer's bed,
The home of woe and