Harvard University

All day long in the city's canyon-street,With its populous cliffs alive on either side,I saw a river of marching men like a tideFlowing after the flag: and the rhythmic beatOf the drums, and the bugles' resonant blareMetred the tramp, tramp, tramp of a myriad feet,While the red-white-and-blue was fluttering everywhere,And the heart of the crowd kept time to a martial air:

O brave flag, O bright flag, O flag to lead the free!The glory of thy silver stars,Engrailed in blue above the barsOf red for courage, white for truth,Has brought the world a second youthAnd drawn a hundred million hearts to follow after thee.

Old Cambridge saw thee first unfurled,By Washington's far-reaching hand,To greet, in Seventy-six, the wintry mornOf a new year, and herald to the worldGlad tidings from a Western land,--A people and a hope new-born!The double cross then filled thine azure field,In token of a spirit loath to yieldThe breaking ties that bound thee to a throne.But not for long thine oriflamme could bearThat symbol of an outworn trust in kings.The wind that bore thee out on widening wingsCalled for a greater sign and all thine own,--A new device to speak of heavenly lawsAnd lights that surely guide the people's cause.Oh, greatly did they hope, and greatly dare,Who bade the stars in heaven fight for them,And set upon their battle-flag a fairNew constellation as a diadem!Along the blood-stained banks of BrandywineThe ragged troops were rallied to this sign;Through Saratoga's woods it fluttered brightAmid the perils of the hard-won fight;O'er Yorktown's meadows broad and greenIt hailed the glory of the final scene;And when at length Manhattan sawThe last invaders' line of scarlet coatsPass Bowling Green, and fill the waiting boatsAnd sullenly withdraw,The flag that proudly flewAbove the battered line of buff and blue,Marching, with rattling drums and shrilling pipes,Along the Bowery and down Broadway,Was this that leads the great parade to-day,--The glorious banner of the stars and stripes.

First of the flags of earth to dareA heraldry so high;First of the flags of earth to bearThe blazons of the sky;Long may thy constellation glow,Foretelling happy fate;Wider thy starry circle grow,And every star a State!

Pass on, pass on, ye flashing filesOf men who march in militant array;Ye thrilling bugles, throbbing drums,Ring out, roll on, and die away;And fade, ye crowds, with the fading day!Around the city's lofty pilesOf steel and stoneThe lilac veil of dusk is thrown,Entangled full of sparks of fairy light;And the never-silent heart of the city humsTo a homeward-turning tune before the night.But far above, on the sky-line's broken height,From all the towers and domes outlinedIn gray and gold along the city's crest,I see the rippling flag still take the windWith a promise of good to come for all mankind.

O banner of the west,No proud and brief parade,That glorifies a nation's holidayWith show of troops for warfare dressed,Can rightly measure or displayThe mighty army thou hast madeLoyal to guard thy more than royal sway.Millions have come across the seaTo find beneath thy shelter room to grow;Millions were born beneath thy folds and knowNo other flag but thee.And other, darker millions bore the yokeOf bondage in thy borders till the voiceOf Lincoln spoke,And sent thee forth to set the bondmen free.Rejoice, dear flag, rejoice!Since thou hast proved and passed that bitter strife,Richer thy red with blood of heroes wet,Purer thy white through sacrificial life,Brighter thy blue wherein new stars are set.Thou art become a sign,Revealed in heaven to speak of things divine:Of Truth that daresTo slay the lie it sheltered unawares;Of Courage fearless in the fight,Yet ever quick its foemen to forgive;Of Conscience earnest to maintain its rightAnd gladly grant the same to all who live.Thy staff is deeply planted in the factThat nothing can ennoble manSave his own act,And naught can make him worthy to be freeBut practice in the school of liberty.The cords are two that lift thee to the sky:Firm faith in God, the King who rules on high;And never-failing trustIn human nature, full of faults and flaws,Yet ever answering to the inward callThat bids it set the "ought" above the "must,"In all its errors wiser than it seems,In all its failures full of generous dreams,Through endless conflict rising without pauseTo self-dominion, charactered in lawsThat pledge fair-play alike to great and small,And equal rights for each beneath the rule of all.These are thy halyards, banner bold,And while these hold,Thy brightness from the sky shall never fall,Thy broadening empire never know decrease,--Thy strength is union and thy glory peace.

Look forth across thy widespread lands,O flag, and let thy stars to-night be eyesTo see the visionary hostsOf men and women grateful to be thine,That joyfully ariseFrom all thy borders and thy coasts,And follow after thee in endless line!They lift to thee a forest of saluting hands;They hail thee with a rolling ocean-roarOf cheers; and as the echo dies,There comes a sweet and moving songOf treble voices from the childish throngWho run to thee from every school-house door.Behold thine army! Here thy power lies:The men whom freedom has made strong,And bound to follow thee by willing vows;The women greatened by the joysOf motherhood to rule a happy house;The vigorous girls and boys,Whose eager faces and unclouded browsForetell the future of a noble race,Rich in the wealth of wisdom and true worth!While millions such as these to thee belong,What foe can do thee wrong,What jealous rival rob thee of thy placeForemost of all the flags of earth?

My vision darkens as the night descends;And through the mystic atmosphereI feel the creeping coldness that portendsA change of spirit in my dreamThe multitude that moved with song and cheerHave vanished, yet a living streamFlows on and follows still the flag,But silent now, with leaden feet that lagAnd falter in the deepening gloom,--A weird battalion bringing up the rear.Ah, who are these on whom the vital bloomOf life has withered to the dust of doom?These little pilgrims prematurely wornAnd bent as if they bore the weight of years?These childish faces, pallid and forlorn,Too dull for laughter and too hard for tears?Is this the ghost of that insane crusadeThat led ten thousand children long ago,A flock of innocents, deceived, betrayed,Yet pressing on through want and woeTo meet their fate, faithful and unafraid?Nay, for a million children nowAre marching in the long pathetic line,With weary step and early wrinkled brow;And at their head appears no holy signOf hope in heaven;For unto them is givenNo cross to carry, but a cross to drag.Before their strength is ripe they bearThe load of labour, toiling undergroundIn dangerous mines and breathing heavy airOf crowded shops; their tender lives are boundTo service of the whirling, clattering wheelsThat fill the factories with dust and noise;They are not girls and boys,But little "hands" who blindly, dumbly feedWith their own blood the hungry god of Greed.Robbed of their natural joys,And wounded with a scar that never heals,They stumble on with heavy-laden soul,And fall by thousands on the highway linedWith little graves; or reach at last their goalOf stunted manhood and embittered age,To brood awhile with dark and troubled mind,Beside the smouldering fire of sullen rage,On life's unfruitful work and niggard wage.Are these the regiments that Freedom rearsTo serve her cause in coming years?Nay, every life that Avarice doth maimAnd beggar in the helpless days of youth,Shall surely claimA just revenge, and take it without ruth;And every soul denied the right to growBeneath the flag, shall be its secret foe.Bow down, dear land, in penitence and shame!Remember now thine oath, so nobly sworn,To guard an equal lotFor every child within thy borders born!These are thy children whom thou hast forgot:They have the bitter right to live, but notThe blessed right to look for happiness.O lift thy liberating hand once more,To loose thy little ones from dark duress;The vital gladness to their hearts restoreIn healthful lessons and in happy play;And set them free to climb the upward wayThat leads to self-reliant nobleness.Speak out, my country, speak at last,As thou hast spoken in the past,And clearly, bravely say:"I will defendThe coming race on whom my hopes depend:Beneath my flag and on my sacred soilNo child shall bear the crushing yoke of toil."

Look up, look up, ye downcast eyes!The night is almost gone:Along the new horizon fliesThe banner of the dawn;The eastern sky is banded lowWith white and crimson bars,While far above the morning glowThe everlasting stars.

O bright flag, O brave flag, O flag to lead the free!The hand of God thy colours blent,And heaven to earth thy glory lent,To shield the weak, and guide the strongTo make an end of human wrong,And draw a countless human host to follow after thee!