Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79. | | | | Introductory to Middle States | | To Delaware | | John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) |
| | | THRICE welcome to thy sisters of the East, | |
| To the strong tillers of a rugged home, | |
| With spray-wet locks to Northern winds released, | |
| And hardy feet o’erswept by ocean’s foam; | |
| And to the young nymphs of the golden West, | 5 |
| Whose harvest mantles, fringed with prairie bloom, | |
| Trail in the sunset,—O redeemed and blest, | |
| To the warm welcome of thy sisters come! | |
| Broad Pennsylvania down her sail-white bay | |
| Shall give thee joy, and Jersey from her plains, | 10 |
| And the great lakes, where Echo, free alway, | |
| Moaned never shoreward with the clank of chains, | |
| Shall weave new sun-bows in their tossing spray, | |
| And all their waves keep grateful holiday. | |
| And, smiling on thee through her mountain rains, | 15 |
| Vermont shall bless thee; and the Granite peaks, | |
| And vast Katahdin o’er his woods, shall wear | |
| Their snow-crowns brighter in the cold keen air; | |
| And Massachusetts, with her rugged cheeks | |
| O’errun with grateful tears, shall turn to thee, | 20 |
| When, at thy bidding, the electric wire | |
| Shall tremble northward with its words of fire; | |
| Glory and praise to God! another State is free! | | | | |
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