History & Politics

Song Composed for Washington's Birthday

by Henry Timrod 1828–1867

From Poems of Henry Timrod (1899)

History & Politics

A hundred years and more ago
A little child was born--
To-day, with pomp of martial show,
We hail his natal morn.

Who guessed as that poor infant wept
Upon a woman's knee,
A nation from the centuries stept
As weak and frail as he?

Who saw the future on his brow
Upon that happy morn?
We are a mighty nation now
Because that child was born.

To him, and to his spirit's scope,
Besides a glorious home,
We owe that what we have and hope
Are more than Greece and Rome.

MLA

Timrod, Henry. “Song Composed for Washington's Birthday.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/timrod/73/.

Chicago

Timrod, Henry. “Song Composed for Washington's Birthday.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/timrod/73/.

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