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Home  »  Yale Book of American Verse  »  5 The Latter Day

Thomas R. Lounsbury, ed. (1838–1915). Yale Book of American Verse. 1912.

Thomas Hastings 1784–1872

Thomas Hastings

5 The Latter Day

HAIL to the brightness of Zion’s glad morning;

Joy to the lands that in darkness have lain;

Hushed be the accents of sorrow and mourning;

Zion in triumph begins her mild reign!

Hail to the brightness of Zion’s glad morning,

Long by the prophets of Israel foretold;

Hail to the millions from bondage returning;

Gentiles and Jews the blest vision behold!

Lo, in the desert rich flowers are springing;

Streams ever copious are gliding along;

Loud from the mountain-tops echoes are ringing;

Wastes rise in verdure, and mingle in song.

See, from all lands, from the isles of the ocean,

Praise to Jehovah ascending on high;

Fallen are the engines of war and commotion;

Shouts of salvation are rending the sky!