God Bless Our Native Land.

God bless our native land,
    Land of the newly free,
Oh may she ever stand
    For truth and liberty.

God bless our native land,
    Where sleep our kindred dead,
Let peace at thy command
    Above their graves be shed.

God help our native land,
    Bring surcease to her strife,
And shower from thy hand
    A more abundant life.

God bless our native land,
    Her homes and children bless,
Oh may she ever stand
    For truth and righteousness.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an African American abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer. Born free in Baltimore, Maryland, she was one of the first African American women to be published in the United States. She was active in social reform movements and used her poetry and prose to advocate for abolition and women's rights. Her best-known works include the poetry collection "Forest Leaves" and the novel "Iola Leroy."

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

The Burdens Of All.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Simple Poetry

Only A Word.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Simple Poetry

Fishers Of Men.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Simple Poetry

Thank God For Little Children.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

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Then And Now.

"Build me a nation," said the Lord.
The distant nations heard the word,
Build me a nation true and strong,
Bar out the old world's hate and wrong;
For men had traced with blood and tears
The trail of weary wasting years,
And torn and bleeding martyrs trod
Through fire and torture up to God.

While in the hollow of his hand
God hid the secret of our land,
Men warred against their fiercest foes,
And kingdoms fell and empires rose,
Till, weary of the old world strife,
Men sought for broader, freer life,
And plunged into the ocean's foam
To find another, better home.

And, like a vision fair and bright
The new world broke upon their sight.
Men grasped the prize, grew proud and strong,
And cursed the land with crime and wrong.
The Indi...

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Home, Sweet Home.

"It shall be a royal mansion,
    A fair and beautiful thing,
It will be the presence-chamber
    Of thy Saviour, Lord and King.

"Thy house shall be bound with pinions
    To mansions of rest above,
But grace shall forge all the fetters
    With the links and cords of love.

"Thou shalt be free in this mansion
    From sorrow and pain of heart,
For the peace of God shall enter,
    And never again depart."


Sharers of a common country,
    They had met in deadly strife;
Men who should have been as brothers
    Madly sought each other's life.

In the silence of the even,
    When the cannon's lips were dumb,
Thoughts of home and all its loved ones
    To the soldier's heart would come.

On the margin of a rive...

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

A Rallying Cry.

Oh, children of the tropics,
    Amid our pain and wrong
Have you no other mission
    Than music, dance, and song?

When through the weary ages
    Our dripping tears still fall,
Is this a time to dally
    With pleasure's silken thrall?

Go, muffle all your viols;
    As heroes learn to stand,
With faith in God's great justice
    Nerve every heart and hand.

Dream not of ease nor pleasure,
    Nor honor, wealth, nor fame,
Till from the dust you've lifted
    Our long-dishonored name;

And crowned that name with glory
    By deeds of holy worth,
To shine with light emblazoned,
    The noblest name on earth.

Count life a dismal failure,
    Unblessing and unblest,
That seeks 'mid ease inglorious
   ...

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Freedom, Our Queen

Land where the banners wave last in the sun,
Blazoned with star-clusters, many in one,
Floating o'er prairie and mountain and sea;
Hark! 't is the voice of thy children to thee!

Here at thine altar our vows we renew
Still in thy cause to be loyal and true, -
True to thy flag on the field and the wave,
Living to honor it, dying to save!

Mother of heroes! if perfidy's blight
Fall on a star in thy garland of light,
Sound but one bugle-blast! Lo! at the sign
Armies all panoplied wheel into line!

Hope of the world! thou'hast broken its chains, -
Wear thy bright arms while a tyrant remains,
Stand for the right till the nations shall own
Freedom their sovereign, with Law for her throne!

Freedom! sweet Freedom! our voices resound,
Queen by...

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Songs For The People.

Let me make the songs for the people,
    Songs for the old and young;
Songs to stir like a battle-cry
    Wherever they are sung.

Not for the clashing of sabres,
    For carnage nor for strife;
But songs to thrill the hearts of men
    With more abundant life.

Let me make the songs for the weary,
    Amid life's fever and fret,
Till hearts shall relax their tension,
    And careworn brows forget.

Let me sing for little children,
    Before their footsteps stray,
Sweet anthems of love and duty,
    To float o'er life's highway.

I would sing for the poor and aged,
    When shadows dim their sight;
Of the bright and restful mansions,
    Where there shall be no night.

Our world, so worn and weary,
    Needs ...

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Our Country

We give thy natal day to hope,
O Country of our love and prayer!
Thy way is down no fatal slope,
But up to freer sun and air.
Tried as by furnace-fires, and yet
By God's grace only stronger made,
In future tasks before thee set
Thou shalt not lack the old-time aid.
The fathers sleep, but men remain
As wise, as true, and brave as they;
Why count the loss and not the gain?
The best is that we have to-day.
Whate'er of folly, shame, or crime,
Withhin thy mighty bounds transpires,
With speed defying space and time
Comes to us on the accusing wires;
While of thy wealth of noble deeds,
Thy homes of peace, thy votes unsold,
The love that pleads for human needs,
The wrong redressed, but half is told!
We read each felon's chronicle,
His acts, hi...

John Greenleaf Whittier