The Landing Of The Pilgrim Fathers

5And the heavy night hung dark

6The hills and water o'er,

7When a band of exiles moored their bark

8On the wild New England shore.

9Not as the conqueror comes,

10They, the true-hearted, came;

11Not with the roll of the stirring drums,

12And the trumpet that sings of fame;

13Not as the flying come,

14In silence and in fear,—

15They shook the depths of the desert's gloom

16With their hymns of lofty cheer.

17Amidst the storm they sang,

18And the stars heard and the sea;

19And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang

20To the anthem of the free.

21The ocean-eagle soared

22From his nest by the white wave's foam,

23And the rocking pines of the forest roared—

24This was their welcome home!

25There were men with hoary hair

26Amidst that pilgrim band:

27Why had they come to wither there,

28Away from their childhood's land?

29There was woman's fearless eye,

30Lit by her deep love's truth;

31There was manhood's brow serenely high,

32And the fiery heart of youth.

33What sought they thus afar?

34Bright jewels of the mine?

35The wealth of the seas? the spoils of war?—

36They sought a faith's pure shrine!

37Ay, call it holy ground,

38The soil where first they trod!

39They have left unstained what there they found—

40Freedom to worship God!