Getting it Together

Union

No angry menace of a hostile foe,
No blatant barking of a loud-mouthed gun,
No rush of shiv’ring fear, has made us one
Within our tide-borne ring of indigo;
But brothers spoke in brotherhood, and, lo!
The barriers fell, like mist before the sun,
And newly-wakened Love arose and spun
The strands which bind our fates for weal or woe.
God grant our Union peace, the pence that holds
Security. God grant us liberal moulds
In which to shape ourselves, and forge us strong,
Each one too proud to do the other wrong,
Each one too brave to lift a tyrant hand,
Each growing wiser as the years expand.