The breaking waves dashed high <br />On a stern and rock-bound coast, <br />And the woods against a stormy sky <br />Their giant branches tossed; <br /> <br />And the heavy night hung dark, <br />The hills and waters o'er, <br />When a band of exiles moored their bark <br />On the wild New England shore. <br /> <br />Not as the conqueror comes, <br />They, the true-hearted came; <br />Not with the roll of the stirring drums, <br />And the trumpet that sings of fame; <br /> <br />Not as the flying come, <br />In silence and in fear; <br />They shook the depths of the desert gloom <br />With their hymns of lofty cheer. <br /> <br />Amidst the storm they sang, <br />And the stars heard, and the sea; <br />And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang <br />To the anthem of the free. <br /> <br />The ocean eagle soared <br />From his nest by the white wave's foam; <br />And the rocking pines of the forest roared- <br />This was their welcome home. <br /> <br />There were men with hoary hair <br />Amidst the pilgrim band: <br />Why had they come to wither there, <br />Away from their childhood's land? <br /> <br />There was woman's fearless eye, <br />Lit by her deep love's truth; <br />There was manhood's brow, serenely high, <br />And the fiery heart of youth. <br /> <br />What sought they thus afar? <br />Bright jewels of the mine? <br />The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? <br />They sought a faith's pure shrine! <br /> <br />Ay, call it holy ground, <br />The soil where first they trod; <br />They have left unstained what there they found - <br />Freedom to worship God.<br /><br />Felicia Dorothea Hemans<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-pilgrim-fathers/
