Last year, I posted a stanza from one of my favourite poems (‘Columbia’ by Timothy Dwight) that - to me - summarizes how I feel this time each year; this year I am gonna post another stanza:
Columbia, Columbia, to glory rise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies!
Thy genius commands thee; with rapture behold,
While ages on ages thy splendours unfold.
Thy reign is the last, and the noblest of time,
Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime.
Let the crimes of the east ne’er encrimson thy name,
Be freedom, and science, and virtue, thy fame.
You can read the entire poem here.
It’s been a good Independence Day - even without fireworks. Started out in Fredericksburg, drove to Luckenbach, and ended the day in San Antonio. Pics will be posted tomorrow.
To end the night, here is the last stanza of one of my favourite poems: Columbia by Timothy Dwight:
Thus, as down a lone valley, with cedars o’erspread,
From war’s dread confusion I pensively stray’d-
The gloom from the face of fair heav’n retir’d;
The winds ceas’d to murmur; the thunders expir’d;
Perfumes, as of Eden, flow’d sweetly along,
And a voice, as of angels, enchantingly sung:
“Columbia, Columbia, to glory rise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies.”
You can read the entire poem here. Better than the Star Spangled Banner, et al, etc. in my humble opinion (go ahead and hate; I don’t care).