Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! <br />Sail on, O Union, strong and great! <br />Humanity with all its fears, <br />With all the hopes of future years, <br />Is hanging breathless on thy fate! <br />We know what Master laid thy keel, <br />What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, <br />Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, <br />What anvils rang, what hammers beat, <br />In what a forge and what a heat <br />Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! <br />Fear not each sudden sound and shock, <br />'Tis of the wave and not the rock; <br />'Tis but the flapping of the sail, <br />And not a rent made by the gale! <br />In spite of rock and tempest's roar, <br />In spite of false lights on the shore, <br />Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea! <br />Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee. <br />Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, <br />Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, <br />Are all with thee, -are all with thee!<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/o-ship-of-state/
