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C3^ 
 
 AN INAUGURAL ODE 
 
AN INAUGURAL ODE 
 
 By 
 
 Alexander Blair Thaw 
 
 THE MONADNOCK PRESS 
 NELSON, N. H. 
 
 MCMV 
 
I COPY e. i 
 
 f^, ..^-^j 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1905 
 BY ALEXANDER BLAIR THAW 
 

 To 
 
 The American People 
 
AN INAUGURAL ODE 
 
TT "TNDER this banner of ours, 
 I unfurled 
 
 ^^-^ To the winds of the world, 
 We, by God's grace, Citizens, Sovereigns, 
 lords of this land. 
 Seeking a man among men. 
 Fixing on you for our choice 
 Once again. 
 Give you, this day, high place. 
 And the nation's voice, — 
 
 With a solemn roar 
 Like the murmur of wind in the trees. 
 With the might of the surge of the seas 
 
 As they break on the shore, — 
 Gives unto you, to command 
 Over our armies of peace. 
 And over our servants, who stand 
 At watch in the house. 
 
Solemn and mutual vows 
 
 We make this day; 
 To defend our fair temple of state, 
 To protect the pure spirit of laws. 
 
 To watch and to pray 
 Against treason, within and without: 
 
 Within, — for the fate 
 Of all our unborn generations 
 
 Hangs on these vows we make: 
 Without, — for our cause. 
 
 And this oath which you take. 
 Are the promise of peace to the nations. 
 
 For our war. 
 Is the fight against war. 
 
 And our strife 
 Is the struggle of right against wrong, 
 The battle of youth with doubt. 
 
 Of life with death. 
 And our song 
 
 Is the battle shout 
 
 lO 
 
Of a mighty army of peace ; 
 
 The living breath 
 Of new-born harmonies. 
 
 That shall be sung 
 In every human tongue. 
 
 This is the oath you take, 
 As you take up the fight against wrong: 
 To defend. 
 Even unto the end, 
 This, our cause ; this, the creed 
 
 We confess ; 
 That Justice and Mercy endure. 
 
 With righteousness: 
 And naught else is sure, — 
 
 And naught less! 
 And the promised land shall belong 
 
 Not to the strong 
 But the meek, and to them who are pure 
 In heart and in deed. 
 
 n 
 
Though men say 
 These are dreams, foolish dreams; 
 
 Though the way 
 Through the desert still seems 
 Blind, perilous, wearily, endlessly long; 
 
 Nay! 
 Though the very dust, that we raise 
 With our feet on the long trodden ways. 
 Shuts out all the light of our days; 
 Are we lost then, indeed! 
 
 Shall no leader be found, in our need! 
 Is this then our life, evermore to rehearse 
 
 Those tales that are told 
 
 Of the people of old. 
 
 Who were faithless, perverse. 
 And worshipped strange gods, which they 
 wrought 
 
 With the work of their hands! 
 
 12 
 
Oh ye. 
 
 Ye who have climbed the heights and sought 
 
 The Lord's commands. 
 The table of that law which sets us free. 
 And, coming from the mountain, as of old 
 Have found our god a beast, and made of gold. 
 
 Lead us onward still! 
 
 Give us strength that we, 
 Out of our very weakness and our fears. 
 
 Make strong our will ! 
 That these weak hands of ours may yet fulfil 
 
 The promise of the years; 
 And seize that kingdom, which by the Lord's 
 decree 
 
 Is ours to win ; that country you behold 
 From lonely mountain heights, remote and 
 cold! 
 
 13 
 
Shall we, 
 Whose forefathers dared to smite 
 From off their limbs and lives 
 The galling gyves, 
 Forged in the night 
 Of Egypt's darkness, and fled 
 That ancient tyranny 
 Of warring kings ; 
 Shall we 
 Not arise. 
 
 And cast from our eyes 
 The subtle spell that blinds our sight. 
 And, from our hearts, those ancient lies. 
 False visions of some far off" paradise; 
 Those fetters of the soul that stay our might ; 
 Those flesh-pots of the mind ; that wandering 
 
 light 
 Which leads where no true hills of promise 
 rise ! 
 So shall we see. 
 When the true vision is at last revealed 
 This is our portion in that promised land ! 
 
A sacred soil, to till ; a place to stand 
 Against the Philistines ; a battle field. 
 Where we must fight and fiall; yea, hand in 
 
 hand. 
 Fight on, to fall again, — but never yield. 
 
 Since we have shunned the shadows that are 
 cast 
 
 Upon the air, mirages of the sky ; 
 Since now at last 
 
 The long, long dreary desert space is past ; 
 Shall we in very madness, drunk with pride. 
 
 Set up base gods on high 
 Within the market place ! 
 Or, seeking grace 
 
 To guide. 
 And kneeling down, each man upon his hearth. 
 Search for the living laws, where still they lie. 
 
 Scattered like seeds in the earth, 
 
 15 
 
Till the children of men. 
 Toiling beneath the sun. 
 
 Shall raise them up again. 
 One by one. 
 
 As by a second birth. 
 And make them whole at last ! 
 
 Now no more, as of old. 
 Does the dust of our striving by day 
 
 Blind the sight of our eyes. 
 Nor shut out the light of the sun 
 
 Ere the day's work is done. 
 For the wind of the Lord blows behind us, 
 and loud 
 Is the sound of it; 
 And as it was writ. 
 And the tale thereof told. 
 See, the columns of dust that arise 
 Are become as a pillar of cloud 
 
 In the skies. 
 To point out the way. 
 
 i6 
 
And behold, 
 When we gaze straight before us 
 
 Through these whirlwinds of dust, 
 And no longer look back on our track. 
 
 In a breath 
 The dark years of the desert are past, 
 And the shadows of death. 
 
 And the land 
 Of our hope is at hand; 
 Which the Lord shall restore us. 
 He in whom is our trust. 
 
 And our cup shall run o'er 
 
 In the day of our need, 
 And He shall restore 
 
 And make whole. 
 In us and our seed. 
 
 The great living soul 
 
 Of the teeming 
 
 World, ever dreaming 
 Of things that are to be. 
 
 17 
 
These are the things we must do, 
 To be constant and true 
 
 To our vow. 
 So, here and now. 
 We bid you stand. 
 Stand and receive the sacred oath,— to protect 
 This fair temple of ours, which was planned 
 Through the ages of ages. 
 By the mind of the One 
 Great Architect ; 
 This dream of the prophets and sages. 
 By whom the fair work was begun; 
 This house, which was made 
 By men's toil. 
 And the work of their hands. 
 
 Here under the sun; 
 This temple, which stands 
 As a refuge for men of all nations: 
 Whose strong foundations 
 Forever firm are laid 
 
 i8 
 
In the free soil 
 
 Of the fertile earth. 
 And in every heart, on every hearth. 
 
 Where'er still burn the sacred fires 
 Of liberty and brothers' love. 
 And this living wall 
 
 Shall never move. 
 These lofty tovs^ers 
 
 Shall never fall, 
 But by our guilt. 
 
 And to our scathe. 
 For behold, they are built 
 Of the blood of our sons and our brothers. 
 
 And the faith 
 
 Of our mothers; 
 And their glorious strength ever rests 
 
 In the graves of our sires. 
 And in our daughters' breasts. 
 
 19 
 
So this temple of ours, 
 Which was made 
 
 For a refuge for men. 
 Has become as a house of the Lord. 
 
 So twice was it saved by the sword 
 Of our fathers, who fell 
 
 In faith's fierce endeavor. 
 That we, coming after, might dwell 
 
 Therein, unafraid. 
 With goodness and mercy forever. 
 
 20 
 
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 ^ DEC 88 
 
 ViJiJw N. MANCHESTER, 
 ^^^^ INDIANA 46962 
 
 
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