Religion
Battle-hymn of the Republic
From The Golden Treasury of American Songs and Lyrics (1899)
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fatal lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel!
Since God is marching on."
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh! be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born, across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Cite this poem
MLA
Howe, Julia Ward. “Battle-hymn of the Republic.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/howe_jw/0/.
Chicago
Howe, Julia Ward. “Battle-hymn of the Republic.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/howe_jw/0/.
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