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| FOR, O America, our country!—land | |
| Hid in the west through centuries, till men | |
| Through countless tyrannies could understand | |
| The priceless worth of freedom,—once again | |
| The world was new-created when thy shore | 5 |
| First knew the Pilgrim keels, that one last test | |
| The race might make of manhood, nor give o’er | |
| The strife with evil till it proved its best. | |
| Thy true sons stand as torch-bearers, to hold | |
| A guiding light. Here the last stand is made. | 10 |
| If we fail here, what new Columbus bold, | |
| Steering brave prow through black seas unafraid, | |
| Finds out a fresh land where man may abide | |
| And freedom yet be saved? The whole round earth | |
| Has seen the battle fought. Where shall men hide | 15 |
| From tyranny and wrong, where life have worth, | |
| If here the cause succumb? If greed of gold | |
| Or lust of power or falsehood triumph here, | |
| The race is lost! A globe dispeopled, cold, | |
| Rolled down the void a voiceless, lifeless sphere, | 20 |
| Were not so stamped by all which hope debars | |
| As were this earth, plunging along through space | |
| Conquered by evil, shamed among the stars, | |
| Bearing a base, enslaved, dishonored race! | |
| Here has the battle its last vantage ground; | 25 |
| Here all is won, or here must all be lost, | |
| Here freedom’s trumpets one last rally sound; | |
| Here to the breeze its blood-stained flag is tossed. | |
| America, last hope of man and truth, | |
| Thy name must through all coming ages be | 30 |
| The badge unspeakable of shame and ruth, | |
| Or glorious pledge that man through truth is free. | |
| This is thy destiny; the choice is thine | |
| To lead all nations and outshine them all: | |
| But if thou failest, deeper shame is thine, | 35 |
| And none shall spare to mock thee in thy fall. | |
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