THE day's sharp strife is ended now, <br />Our work is done, God knoweth how! <br />As on the thronged, unrestful town <br />The patience of the moon looks down, <br />I wait to hear, beside the wire, <br />The voices of its tongues of fire. <br />Slow, doubtful, faint,they seem at first: <br />Be strong, my heart, to know the worst! <br />Hark! there the Alleghanies spoke; <br />That sound from lake and prairie broke, <br />That sunset-gun of triumph rent <br />The silence of a continent! <br />That signal from Nebraska sprung, <br />This, from Nevada's mountain tongue! <br />Is that thy answer, strong and free, <br />O loyal heart of Tennessee? <br />What strange, glad voice is that which calls <br />From Wagner's grave and Sumter's walls? <br />From Mississippi's fountain-head <br />A sound as of the hisoh's tread! <br />There rustled freedom's Charter Oak! <br />In that wild burst the Ozarks spoke! <br />Cheer answers cheer from rise to set <br />Of sun. We have a country yet! <br />The praise, O God, be thine alone! <br />Thou givest not for bread a stone; <br />Thou hast not led us through the night <br />To blind us with returning light; <br />Not through the furnace have we passed, <br />To perish at its mouth at last. <br />O night of peace, thy flight restrain! <br />November's moon, be slow to wane! <br />Shine on the freedman's cabin floor, <br />On brows of prayer a blessing pour; <br />And give, with full assurance blest, <br />The weary heart of Freedom rest!<br /><br />John Greenleaf Whittier<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/after-election/
