The Union

(1917)


You that have gathered together the sons of all races,
    And welded them into one,
Lifting the torch of your Freedom on hungering faces
    That sailed to the setting sun;

You that have made of mankind in your own proud regions
    The music of man to be,
How should the old earth sing of you, now, as your legions
    Rise to set all men free?

How should the singer that knew the proud vision and loved it,
    In the days when not all men knew,
Gaze through his tears, on the light, now the world has approved it;
    Or dream, when the dream comes true?

How should he sing when the Spirit of Freedom in thunder
    Speaks, and the wine-press is red;
And the sea-winds are loud with the chains that are broken asunder
    And nations that rise from the dead?

Flag of the sky, proud flag of that wide communion,
    Too mighty for thought to scan;
Flag of the many in one, and that last world-union
    That kingdom of God in man;

Ours was a dream, in the night, of that last federation,
    But yours is the glory unfurled--
The marshalled nations and stars that shall make one nation
    One singing star of the world.

Alfred Noyes

Alfred Noyes was an English poet, short-story writer, and playwright, best known for his ballads, particularly "The Highwayman" (1906). Born on September 16, 1880, in Wolverhampton, he published his first collection of poems, "The Loom of Years," in 1902. His narrative poetry and works often evoked strong imagery and emotion. Noyes also lectured in various universities across the United States. He passed away on June 25, 1958.

Alfred Noyes

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English

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Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

The Avenue Of The Allies

This is the song of the wind as it came
Tossing the flags of the nations to flame:

        I am the breath of God. I am His laughter.
I am His Liberty. That is my name.

So it descended, at night, on the city.
So it went lavishing beauty and pity,
Lighting the lordliest street of the world
With half of the banners that earth has unfurled;
Over the lamps that are brighter than stars.
Laughing aloud on its way to the wars,
Proud as America, sweeping along
Death and destruction like notes in a song,
Leaping to battle as man to his mate,
Joyous as God when he moved to create,--
        Never was voice of a nation so glorious,
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Republic And Motherland

(1912)

(Written after entering New York Harbor at Daybreak)


Up the vast harbor with the morning sun
    The ship swept in from sea;
Gigantic towers arose, the night was done,
    And--there stood Liberty.

Silent, the great torch lifted in one hand,
    The dawn in her proud eyes,
Silent, for all the shouts that vex her land,
    Silent, hailing the skies;

Hailing that mightier Kingdom of the Blest
    Our seamen sought of old,
The dream that lured the nations through the West,
    The city of sunset gold.

Saxon and Norman in one wedded soul
    Shook out one flag like fire;
But westward, westward, moved the gleaming goal,
    Westward, the vast desire.

Westward and ever westward ran the call,
    ...

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Union And Liberty

Flag of the heroes who left us their glory,
Borne through their battle-fields' thunder and flame,
Blazoned in song and illumined in story,
Wave o'er us all who inherit their fame!

Up with our banner bright,
Sprinkled with starry light,
Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore,
While through the sounding sky
Loud rings the Nation's cry, -
UNION AND LIBERTY! ONE EVERMORE!


Light of our firmament, guide of our Nation,
Pride of her children, and honored afar,
Let the wide beams of thy full constellation
Scatter each cloud that would darken a star
Up with our banner bright, etc.

Empire unsceptred! what foe shall assail thee,
Bearing the standard of Liberty's van?
Think not the God of thy fathers shall fail thee,
Striving with ...

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!
...

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Princeton

(1917)

The first four lines of this poem were written for inscription on the first joint memorial to the American and British soldiers who fell in the Revolutionary War. This memorial was recently dedicated at Princeton.


I.

Here Freedom stood, by slaughtered friend and foe,
    And ere the wrath paled or that sunset died,
Looked through the ages: then, with eyes aglow,
    Laid them, to wait that future, side by side.


II.

Now lamp-lit gardens in the blue dusk shine
    Through dog-wood red and white,
And round the gray quadrangles, line by line,
    The windows fill with light,
Where Princeton calls to Magdalen, tower to tower,
    Twin lanthorns of the law,
And those cream-white magnolia boughs embower
    Th...

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Union.

This word beyond all others,
    Makes us love our country most,
Makes us feel that we are brothers,
    And a heart-united host!--
With hosanna let our banner
    From the house-tops be unfurled,
While the nation holds her station
    With the mightiest of the world!
Take your harps from silent willows,
    Shout the chorus of the free;
"States are all distinct as billows,
    Union one--as is the sea!"

From the land of groves that bore us
    He's a traitor who would swerve!
By the flag now waving o'er us
    We the compact will preserve!
Those who gained it and sustained it,
    Were unto each other true,
And the fable well is able
    To instruct us what to do!
Take your harps from silent willows,
    Shout the chorus of the ...

George Pope Morris