America's Banner
The Friend: Honolulu. Published by Rev. Samuel C. Damon,
American Seaman's Friend Society.
March 1845, page 73.
The flag of our nation waves
proudly on high,
Our magnificent streamers are
sweeping the sky
And the proud bird of freedom
now soaring afar,
Is illuminated by the
radiance of liberty's star.
On the bright azure vault in
rich beauty above,
O'er our land it is floating,
the land that we love,
O'er that land that our
fathers long fought to secure,
Where the real fires of
freedom burn brilliant and pure.
As that banner unfurled
proudly kisses the skies,
So the nation in grandeur was
destined to rise,
Till at length on the summit
of glory we rest,
A vast nation of nobles, a
world at the west.
By the strong bond of
freedom, united we stand,
With our glory unsullied,
immoral and grand,
While our name and our banner
will ever convey,
To the realms of the earth
our omnipotent sway.
But, that sway is not
despotic, our just laws are those,
Made for freemen's protection
from insolent foes;
Made to shelter the weak from
the strong arm of spoil,
And secure to the laborer the
fruit of his toil.
We do not wish for conquest,
we strive not to gain
By our arms, or our gold,
wither island or main,
But we ardently hope that our
"liberty tree,"
Long shall wave its broad
boughs o'er the sons of the free.
From the masts of our barks
as they roam o'er the waves,
From hills that look down on
our forefathers graves,
From the temples of freedom
that proudly aspire,
Like our own monarch bird,
though far prouder and higher;
Now our stripes and our stars
to the breezes are flung,
Though the bowstrings of war
by our land are unstrung;
And ourselves, while our
grandeur gleams proudly and far,
Rest secure in our homes,
'neath our own natal star.
May this banner, now kissed
by the breezes of heaven,
Float long o'er those shores,
(by no despot e're riven,)
Be the "signa" of
freedom, and tyranny's fall,
While united we stand, till
divided we fall.
A sailor
From the Wm. C. Nye's
forecastle.
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