The Rainbow Of Promise

In the face of the sun are great thunderbolts hurled,
    And the storm-clouds have shut out its light;
But a Rainbow of Promise now shines on the world,
    And the universe thrills at the sight.

'Tis the flag of our Union, the red, white, and blue,
    Our Star-spangled Banner - our pride;
Fair symbol of all that is noble and true,
    Flung out over continents wide.

Flung out in its glory o'er land and o'er sea,
    With a message from God in each star;
And a glorious promise of peace yet to be
    In the fluttering folds of each bar.

A Rainbow of Promise, bright emblem of hope,
    Fair flag of each cause that is just;
No longer in doubt or in darkness we grope -
    In the Star-spangled Banner we trust.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet, born on November 5, 1850, and died on October 30, 1919. She was known for her works expressing optimistic views and moral lessons. Her most famous book was 'Poems of Passion'. Her poem 'Solitude' contains the famous lines, 'Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone'. Over her career, Wilcox became popularly known as a 'people's poet'.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

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Niagara's Rainbow

Upon the "table-rock" I stand,
And gaze into the depths profound,
In ecstacy at sights so grand,
And deafened by the sound
Of rushing waters, as they leap
Like maddened steeds, down hillside steep.

The falling spray my head bedews,
As gently as a vernal shower;
Or, as the Holy Ghost imbues
In consecrated hour,
The soul that inly yearns for love,
And seeks it from the throne above.

But I see more than chasm deep,
Than falling spray and rushing tide.
Sublime, indeed, the awful leap;
The awe will long abide--
God's rainbow hangs in colors bright,
A thing of beauty in my sight.

Our cousins on the other side
And we too often disagree;
Puffed up, I fear, at times, with pride,
Each strong, and brave, and free;
But we fo...

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The American Flag.

I.

When Freedom from her mountain height
Unfurled her standard to the air,
She tore the azure robe of night,
And set the stars of glory there.
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies,
And striped its pure celestial white,
With streakings of the morning light;
Then from his mansion in the sun
She called her eagle bearer down,
And gave into his mighty hand,
The symbol of her chosen land.

II.

Majestic monarch of the cloud,
Who rear'st aloft thy regal form,
To hear the tempest trumpings loud
And see the lightning lances driven,
When strive the warriors of the storm,
And rolls the thunder-drum of heaven,
Child of the sun! to thee 'tis given
To guard the banner of the free,
To hover in the sul...

Joseph Rodman Drake

Arms And The Man. - The Flag Of The Republic.

My harp soon ceases; but I here allege
Its strings are in my heart and tremble there:
My Song's last strain shall be a claim and pledge -
        A claim, a pledge, a prayer!

I stand, as stood, in storied days of old,
Vasco Balboa staring o'er bright seas
When fair Pacific's tide of limpid gold
        Surged up against his knees.

For haughty Spain, her banner in his hand,
He claimed a New World, sea, and plain, and crag -
I claim the Future's Ocean for this land
        And here I plant her flag!

Float out, oh flag, from Freedom's burnished lance!
Float out, oh flag, in Red, and White, and Blue!
The Union's colors and the hues of France
        Commingled on the view!

Float out, oh flag, and all thy splendors wake!
Float out, oh f...

James Barron Hope

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 defe...

Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Flower Of Liberty

What flower is this that greets the morn,
Its hues from Heaven so freshly born?
With burning star and flaming band
It kindles all the sunset land
Oh tell us what its name may be, -
Is this the Flower of Liberty?
It is the banner of the free,
The starry Flower of Liberty!

In savage Nature's far abode
Its tender seed our fathers sowed;
The storm-winds rocked its swelling bud,
Its opening leaves were streaked with blood,
Till Lo! earth's tyrants shook to see
The full-blown Flower of Liberty
Then hail the banner of the free,
The starry Flower of Liberty!

Behold its streaming rays unite,
One mingling flood of braided light, -
The red that fires the Southern rose,
With spotless white from Northern snows,
And, spangled o'er its azure, ...

Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Flag of our Union.

"A song for our banner?"--The watchword recall
Which gave the Republic her station:
"United we stand--divided we fall!"--
It made and preserves us a nation!
The union of lakes--the union of lands--
The union of States none can sever--
The union of hearts--the union of hands--
And the Flag of the Union for ever
            And ever!
The Flag of our Union for ever!

What God in his mercy and wisdom designed,
And armed with his weapons of thunder,
Not all the earth's despots and factions combined
Have the power to conquer or sunder!
The union of lakes--the union of lands--
The union of states none can sever--
The union of hearts--the union of hands--
And the Flag of the Union for ever
            And ever!
The Flag of our Union for ever!
...

George Pope Morris