Friday, July 4, 2008

America, Our America!

America, our America!

Thou art not alone,

Nor can’st thou ever be

Helpless and hopeless,

The prey of fears within,

The pawn of plots without,

Amid the tumult of nations

Wandering like homeless waves,

Roaring like hungry winds,

Breaking against thy coasts,

Spirits of the vastly deeps

Leaping to rend thee.

 

America, our America!

Thou art not lonely,

Nor can’st thou ever be

Thine eyes look to the hills

Untroubled against the sky,

Whence help shall come,

Aglow with radiant light,

Itself the shining shadow

Of the matchless Vision

That companies thee always

In places dark with death,

In hours weary with wars.

 

America, Our America!

Thou art not lonesome

Nor can’st thou ever be.

The Vision is thy sentinel

Circling thy borders,

Guarding thy threshold,

Shedding rare light

That is life itself –

The life that lives on love,

The Voice ever beating out

On hearts, the Song of Songs,

On souls, the Song of Service.

 

America, Our America!

Lift up thine eyes and see

Mary is thy Patroness,

High in the sky,

Nearer than land and sea.

The Sign of the Woman appears,

Clothed with the sun,

The moon Her footstool,

Her crown twelve stars –

‘Neath Her writhes the dragon,

Ancient demon of hate,

Spawner of discord and hate.

 

America, Our America!

Thy heart stirs within thee –

The Woman is thy Mother

The Vision travails in pain,

Awaiting deliverance,

Expecting a son.

Sharp are the pangs,

Sharpening with the hours

Till stayed by thy voice,

Thine infant voice,

Calling Her Mother.

Calling Her Patroness.

 

‑ Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman (1967) was the sixth archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York.

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