New York
by Anonymous�(1800's) |
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FLOW fair beside the Palisades, flow, Hudson, fair and
free,
By proud Manhattan's shore of ships and green
Hoboken's tree;
So fair yon haven clasped its isles, in
such a sunset gleam,
When Hendrik and his sea-worn tars
first sounded up the stream,
And climbed this rocky
palisade, and resting on its brow,
Passed round the can
and gazed awhile on shore and wave below;
And Hendrik
drank with hearty cheer, and loudly then cried he:
"'T is
a good land to fall in with, men, and a pleasant land to
see!"
Then something�ah, 't was prophecy!�came
glowing to his brain:
He seemed to see the mightier space
between the oceans twain,
Where other streams by other
strands run through their forests fair,
From bold
Missouri's lordly tide to the leafy Delaware;
The
Sacramento, too, he saw, with its sands of secret gold,
And the sea-like Mississippi on its long, long courses
rolled;
And great thoughts glowed within him;�"God bless
the land," cried he;
"'T is a good land to fall in with,
men, and a pleasant land to see!
"I see the white
sails on the main, along the land I view
The forests
opening to the light and the bright axe flashing through;
I see the cots and village ways, the churches with their
spires,
Where once the Indians camped and danced the
war-dance, round their fires;
I see a storm come up the
deep,�'t is hurrying, raging, o'er
The darkened
fields,�but soon it parts, with a sullen, seaward roar.
'T is gone; the heaven smiles out again�God loves the land,"
cried he;
"'T is a good land to fall in with, men, and a
pleasant land to see!
"I see the white sails on the
main, I see, on all the strands,
Old Europe's exiled
households crowd, and toil's unnumbered hands�
From
Hessenland and Frankenland, from Danube, Drave, and Rhine,
From Netherland, my sea-born land, and the Norseman's hills
of pine,
From Thames, and Shannon, and their isles�and
never, sure, before,
Invading host such greeting found
upon a stranger shore.
The generous Genius of the West
his welcome proffers free:
�'T is a good land to fall in
with, men, and a pleasant land to see!'
"They learn
to speak one language; they raise one flag adored
Over
one people evermore, and guard it with the sword.
In
festive hours, they look upon its starry folds above,
And
hail it with a thousand songs of glory and of love.
Old
airs of many a fatherland still mingle with the cheer,
To
make the love more loving still, the glory still more dear�
Drink up-sees out! join hands about! bear chorus all,"
chants he;
"'T is a good land to fall in with, men, and a
pleasant land to see!" |
By Anonymous�(1800's)
Listed July 31, 2014 |
The words of the refrain in
this poem / song are those used by Henry
Hudson himself,
when he first brought his ship through the Narrows,
and
saw the bay of New York. |
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