You that have gathered together the sons of all races, <br />And welded them into one, <br />Lifting the torch of your Freedom on hungering faces <br />That sailed to the setting sun; <br /> <br />You that have made of mankind in your own proud regions <br />The music of man to be, <br />How should the old earth sing of you, now, as your legions <br />Rise to set all men free? <br /> <br />How should the singer that knew the proud vision and loved it, <br />In the days when not all men knew, <br />Gaze through his tears, on the light, now the world has approved it; <br />Or dream, when the dream comes true? <br /> <br />How should he sing when the Spirit of Freedom in thunder <br />Speaks, and the wine-press is red; <br />And the sea-winds are loud with the chains that are broken asunder <br />And nations that rise from the dead? <br /> <br />Flag of the sky, proud flag of that wide communion, <br />Too mighty for thought to scan; <br />Flag of the many in one, and that last world-union <br />That kingdom of God in man; <br /> <br />Ours was a dream, in the night, of that last federation, <br />But yours is the glory unfurled-- <br />The marshalled nations and stars that shall make one nation <br />One singing star of the world.<br /><br />Alfred Noyes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-union-2/
