Robert Treat Paine, Jr. (1773–1811)

WHEN first the sun o’er ocean glow’d,

And earth unveil’d her virgin breast,

Supreme mid nature’s vast abode,

Was heard the Almighty’s dread behest,

Rise, Columbia, Columbia, brave and free,

Poise the globe and bound the sea.

In darkness wrapp’d, with fetters chain’d,

Will ages grope, debased and blind;

With blood the human hand be stain’d,

With tyrant power, the human mind.
Rise, Columbia, &c.

But, lo! across the Atlantic floods

The star-directed pilgrim sails;

See! fell’d by Commerce, float thy woods;

And clothed by Ceres, wave thy vales!
Rise, Columbia, &c.

In vain shall thrones, in arms combined,

The sacred rights I gave, oppose;

In thee, the asylum of mankind,

Shall welcome nations find repose.
Rise, Columbia, &c.

Nor yet, though skill’d, delight in arms;

Peace, and her offspring Arts, be thine:

The face of Freedom scarce has charms,

When, on her cheeks, no dimples shine.
Rise, Columbia, &c.

While Fame, for thee, her wreath entwines,

To bless, thy nobler triumphs prove;

And though the eagle haunts thy pines,

Beneath thy willows shield the dove.
Rise, Columbia, &c.

When bolts the flame, or whelms the wave,

Be thine to rule the wayward hour:

Bid death unbar the watery grave,

And Vulcan yield to Neptune’s power.
Rise, Columbia, &c.

Revered in arms, in peace humane:

No shore nor realm shall bound thy sway,

While all the virtues own thy reign,

And subject elements obey!

Rise, Columbia, brave and free,

Bless the globe, and rule the sea!