To a Goddess

Lift up thy torch, O Goddess, grand and fair!
Let its light stream across the waiting seas
As banners float upon the yielding breeze
From the king’s tent, his presence to declare.
And as his heralds haste to do their share,
Shouting his praise and sounding his decrees,
So let the waves in loftiest symphonies
Proclaim thy glory to the listening air!
Thou star-crowned one, the nations watch for thee,
For thee the patient earth has waited long—
To thee her toiling millions stretch their hands
From the far hills and o’er the rolling sea.
Lift up thy torch, O beautiful and strong,
A beacon-light to earth’s remotest lands.