So shall mankind, through endless years, admire
More potent realms than Carthage leagu'd with Tyre.

Where lives the nation, fraught with such resource, Such vast materials for a naval force?

Where grow so rife, the iron, masts, and spars,

The hemp, the timber, and the daring tars?
Where gallant youths, inur'd to heat and cold,

565

Through every zone, more hardy, strong, and bold?

Let other climes of other produce boast;

Let gold, let diamonds, grow on India's coast:

570

Let flaming suns from arid plains exhale

The spicy odours of Arabia's gale :

Let fragant shrubs, that bloom in regions calm,

Far-fam'd for beauty, strength, and matchless speed:

580

But men, Columbia, be thy fairer growth,

Men of firm nerves, who spurn at fear and sloth;

Men of high courage, like their sires of old,

In labour patient, as in dangers bold!

Then wake, Columbia! daughter of the skies,

585

Awake to glory, and to greatness rise !

Arise and spread thy virgin charms abroad,

Thou last, thou fairest offspring of a God;

Extend thy view where future blessings lie,

And ope new prospects for th' enraptur'd eye!

590

See a new æra on this globe begun,

And circling years in brighter orbits run;

See the fair dawn of universal peace,

When hell-born discord through the world shall cease!

Commence the task assign❜d by heaven's decree,

595

From pirate rage to vindicate the sea!

Bid thy live oaks, in southern climes that grow,

And pines, that shade the northern mountain's brow,

In mighty pomp descending on the main,
With sails expanded, sweep the watery plain:

G

600

Thy rising stars in unknown skies display,
And bound thy labours with the walks of day.

Bid from the shore a philanthropic band,
The torch of science glowing in their hand,
O'er trackless waves extend their daring toils,
To find and bless a thousand peopled isles;
Not lur'd to blood by domination's lust,
The pride of conquest, or of gold the thirst;
Not arm'd by impious zeal with burning brands,
To scatter flames and ruin round their strands;
Bid them to wilder'd men new lights impart,
Heav'n's noblest gifts, with every useful art.

605

610

Bid thy young sons, whom toil for glory forms, New skill acquiring, learn to brave the storms, To ev'ry region thy glad harvest bear

615

Where happy nations breathe a milder air;
Or where the natives feel the scorching ray,

And pant and faint beneath a flood of day;

Or through those seas where mounts of ice arise,
Th' eternal growth of hyperborean skies,

620

Where feeble rayless suns obliquely roll,

Or one long night invests the frozen pole.

Then bid thy northern train, who draw the line,

And bid thy youths, whose brawny limbs are strung

For bolder toils, pursue those toils unsung-
Pursue through foreign seas, with vent'rous sail,
The dreadful combat of th' enormous whale:
Lo, where he comes, the foaming billows rise!
See spouted torrents cloud the misty skies;
See in the skiff the bold harpooner stand,
The murd'ring iron in his skilful hand:
From him alone th' attentive youths await

630

635

A joyful vict'ry, or a mournful fate:

His meas'ring eye the distance now explores,

His voice now checks, and now impels the oars:

640

The panting crew a solemn silence keep,
Stillness and horror hover o'er the deep:
Now nigh he kens a vulnerable part,
And hurls with deadly aim the barbed dart ;
The wounded monster, plunging through th' abyss,
Makes uncoil'd cords in boiling waters hiss;
And oft the boat, drawn headlong down the wave,
Leads trembling seamen to their watʼry grave;
And oft, when rising, on his back upborne,
Is dash'd on high, in countless pieces torn.
But now afar see ocean's monarch rise,
O'er troubled billows see how fast he flies,
And drags the feeble skiff along the flood,

Lash'd into foam, and colour'd red with blood!
At length subsides the elemental strife,
His rage exhausted with his ebbing life;
As tow'rs a rock on some sky-circled plain,
So looms his carcase o'er the dusky main,
Elate, the victors urge the added toil,
Extract the bone, and fill their ship with oil,

645

650

655

660

Fraught with the germe of wealth, our seamen roam
To foreign marts, and bring new treasures home;
From either Ind' and Europe's happier shore,

Th' assembled produce crowds the merchant's store:
From east to west the fruits and spices sweet,

665

On our full boards in rich profusion meet;
Canary isles their luscious vintage join;
In crystal goblets flows the amber wine;
European artists send their midnight toil
For crude materials of our virgin soil;
For us, in tissue of the silken loom,

The lilacs blush, the damask roses bloom;
For us in distant mines the metals grow,
Prolific source of pleasure, care, and woe!
Ne'er may our sons for heaps of useless wealth,
Exchange the joys of freedom, peace, or health,
But make e'en riches to their weal conduce,
And prize their splendour by their public use!

670

675

A

POEM

ON THE

FUTURE GLORY

OF THE

UNITED STATES

OF

AMERICA,