Classic Poem

Thus grew order out of chaos;
Thus were quenched the fires of faction
Ere they spread in conflagration;
Thus " agreement " by this action,
And a just " association, "
Gave them government, a ruler
(By their own free will elected),
So that passions might be cooler,
Reconciled the disaffected.

Those who would have fain proceeded
To the southland home that lured them
Yielded when the others pleaded,
Acquiesced, for they were needed,
Seeing equal rights secured them.
They had signed the great debenture;
All were in one quest united,
All committed to one venture,
To one faith their hearts were plighted.
Now the promised land was sighted.

On the deck behold them standing,
Full of awe and expectation,
Waiting for the longed-for landing —
These new fathers of a nation —
Glad in seaworn tattered raiment,
Steeple-hat and coat of leather,
Facing the new world together,
Each and every one a claimant
For the Scripture promised payment
Due for life's renunciation.

And those women, frail and weary —
(Not for them emancipation,
Neither for their daughters' daughters,
But true-hearted sisters, mothers,
Merging self in care for others),
Weary of the waste of waters,
Of the seafare coarse and dreary,
Seeing in imagination
Hearth and roof-tree firmly founded,
Home and sanctuary grounded,

Round the rough rail pushing, thronging
In dun groups, like seafowl clustered,
Sobbed for joy and dread and longing,
While the captain swore and blustered
And the sailors peered and sounded.