AT CONCORD, ON THE SECOND CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE INCORPORATION OF
THE TOWN, SEPTEMBER 12, 1835
Bulkeley, Hunt, Willard, Hosmer, Merriam, Flint,
Possessed the land which rendered to their toil
Hay, corn, roots, hemp, flax, apples, wool and wood.
Each of these landlords walked amidst his farm
Saying, ‘’Tis mine, my children’s and my name’s.’
Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds:
And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough.
Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs.
* * * * *
I will have never a noble,
No lineage counted great;
Fishers and choppers and ploughmen
Shall constitute a state.
Lo now! if these poor men
Can govern the land and sea
And make just laws below the sun,
As planets faithful be.
I cause from every creature
His proper good to flow:
As much as he is and doeth,
So much he shall bestow.