If We Had Lived When First The Pilgrims Came

If we had lived, when first the Pilgrims came,
Founding on a rock their future fame;
Humbly would we celebrate the day
Love alone can make care free and gay.

If we had lived when Freedom’s cause was young,
Often would the heart be sorrow wrung;
Yet when war and famine thinned our ranks
Find its sweetest joy in giving thanks.

If we had lived, no light on either hand,
Trusting, when we could not understand;
Pressed by want and danger all the way
Thankful would we then have been to-day.