Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

586 SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
Resistless sweeping downward to the seas —
Had not more trenchant tide
Than their concurrent courses overwhelm-
ing all
Would hold their bodies or their souls in
thrall.
But, ah! could they have peered
Adown the coming centuries,
And seen in sequence swift unfold
What our now retrospecting eyes behold.
How had their hearts been cheered
Here, where they stood.
With anxious but unfearing eyes.
Surveying doubtfully the dismal wood
That held, from them concealed, the wealth
to be
Their gift to their posterity.
Ah! had there been with them some bard
Inspired to see, and seeing sing
To them the pennant that they bore.
Succeeded by the banner many starred
Round which our cheers rejoicing ring
From eastern to the western shore.
On land and ocean never fearing furled,
AUoat above a crowded continent
Of freemen of their own enfranchisement,
Proclaiming to the watching world.
Her latest and her greatest peril passed,
]