| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | July 4 | | England and America | | By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | | | Signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. |
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O THOU, that sendest out the man | |
| To rule by land and sea, | |
| Strong mother of a lion-line, | |
| Be proud of these strong sons of thine | |
| Who wrenched their rights from thee! | 5 |
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| What wonder if in noble heat | |
| Those men thine arms withstood, | |
| Retaught the lesson thou had’st taught, | |
| And in thy spirit with thee fought,— | |
| Who sprang from English blood. | 10 |
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| But thou rejoice with liberal joy, | |
| Lift up thy rocky face, | |
| And shatter, when the storms are black, | |
| In many a streaming torrent back, | |
| The seas that shock thy base! | 15 |
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| Whatever harmonies of law | |
| The growing world assume, | |
| Thy work is thine—The single note | |
| From that deep chord which Hampden smote | |
| Will vibrate to the doom. | 20 | | |
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