After Election

The day's sharp strife is ended now,

Our work is done, God knoweth how!

As on the thronged, unrestful town

The patience of the moon looks down,

I wait to hear, beside the wire,

The voices of its tongues of fire.

Slow, doubtful, faint, they seem at first

Be strong, my heart, to know the worst!

Hark! there the Alleghanies spoke;

That sound from lake and prairie broke,

That sunset-gun of triumph rent

The silence of a continent!

That signal from Nebraska sprung,

This, from Nevada's mountain tongue!

Is that thy answer, strong and free,

O loyal heart of Tennessee?

What strange, glad voice is that which calls

From Wagner's grave and Sumter's walls?

From Mississippi's fountain-head

A sound as of the bison's tread!

There rustled freedom's Charter Oak

In that wild burst the Ozarks spoke!

Cheer answers cheer from rise to set

Of sun. We have a country yet!

The praise, O God, be thine alone!

Thou givest not for bread a stone;

Thou hast not led us through the night

To blind us with returning light;

Not through the furnace have we passed,

To perish at its mouth at last.

O night of peace, thy flight restrain!

November's moon, be slow to wane!

Shine on the freedman's cabin floor,

On brows of prayer a blessing pour;

And give, with full assurance blest,

The weary heart of Freedom rest!