Katharine Lee Bates

thumb|Because the years are few, I must be glad; Because the silence is so near, I sing… Katharine Lee Bates (12 August 1859 – 28 March 1929) was an American author and poet, chiefly remembered for her anthem "America the Beautiful", but also for her many books and articles on social reform, on which she was a noted speaker. Quotes America the Beautiful (1893, 1895; 1904) thumb|O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! Written in 1893, first published in The Congregationalist in 1895, revised in 1904; first titled "America the Beautiful" in 1910. thumb|America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! thumb|America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law. O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! Variant: O beautiful for halcyon skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the enameled plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, Till souls wax fair as earth and air And music-hearted sea! First stanza of the earlier version "America : A Poem for July 4", in The American Kitchen Magazine, Vol. VII, No. 4 (July 1897), p. 151 O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassion'd stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness. America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law. O beautiful for heroes prov'd In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life. America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness, And ev'ry gain divine. O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears. America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea. America the Beautiful and Other Poems (1911) thumb|Never was there lovelier town Than our Falmouth by the sea. America the Beautiful and Other Poems (1911) The Falmouth Bell thumb| Here is princely interchange Of the gifts of shore and field… Section II, p. 39 thumb| Hast thou seen the years drift by, From the dreamful, dim profound To a goal beyond the eye. thumb| Still thy mellow voice and clear Floats o'er land and listening deep, And we deem our fathers hear From their shadowy hill of sleep. Never was there lovelier town Than our Falmouth by the sea. Tender curves of sky look down On her grace of knoll and lea. Here is princely interchange Of the gifts of shore and field, Starred with treasures rare and strange That the liberal sea-chests yield. Culture here burns breezy torch Where gray captains, bronzed of neck Tread their little length of porch With a memory of the deck. Ah, and here the tenderest hearts, Here where sorrows sorest wring And the widows shift their parts Comforted and comforting. Holy bell of Paul Revere Calling such to prayer and praise. While a hundred times the year Herds her flock of faithful days! Greetings to thee, ancient bell Of our Falmouth by the sea! Answered by the ocean swell, Ring thy centuried Jubilee! Like the white sails of the Sound, Hast thou seen the years drift by, From the dreamful, dim profound To a goal beyond the eye. Still thy mellow voice and clear Floats o'er land and listening deep, And we deem our fathers hear From their shadowy hill of sleep. Ring thy peals for centuries yet, Living voice of Paul Revere! Let the future not forget That the past accounted dear! The Ideal thumb| I summon thee, recreant dreamer, to rise and follow thy dream. thumb| All thou dost cherish may perish; still shall thy quest remain. Section III, p. 59 By the promise of noon"s blue splendor in the dawn"s first silvery gleam, By the song of the sea that compelleth the path of the rockcleaving stream, I summon thee, recreant dreamer, to rise and follow thy dream. In the inmost core of thy being I am a burning fire, From thine own altar-flame kindled in the hour when souls aspire, For know that men"s prayers shall be answered, and guard thy spirit"s desire. That which thou wouldst be thou must be, that which thou shalt be thou art; As the oak, astir in the acorn, the dull earth rendeth apart, Lo thou, the seed of thy longing, that breaketh and waketh the heart. I am the cry of the night wind, startling thy traitorous sleep; Moaning I echo thy music, and e"en while thou boastest to reap Alien harvests, my anger resounds from the vehement deep. I am the solitude folding thy soul in a sudden embrace. Faint waxes the voice of thy fellow, wan the light on his face. Life is as cloud-drift about thee alone in shelterless space. I am the drawn sword barring the lanes thy mutinous feet Vainly covet for greenness. Loitering pace or fleet, Thine is the crag-path chosen. On the crest shall rest be sweet. I am thy strong consoler when the desolate human pain Darkens upon thee, the azure outblotted by rush of the rain. All thou dost cherish may perish; still shall thy quest remain. Call me thy foe in thy passion; claim me in peace for thy friend; Yet bethink thee by lowland and upland, wherever thou wiliest to wend, I am thine Angel of Judgment; mine eyes thou must meet in the end. The Debt (1923) thumb|I …  Would make my peace now with mine hostess Earth, Give and take pardon for all brief annoy, And toss her, far beneath my lodging"s worth, Poor that I am, a coin of golden joy. The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CXXXII (September 1923), p. 353 Because the years are few, I must be glad; Because the silence is so near, I sing; "Twere ill to quit an inn where I have had Such bounteous fare nor pay my reckoning. I would not, from some gleaming parapet Of Sirius or Vega, bend my gaze On a remembered sparkle and regret That from it thanklessly I went my ways Up through the starry colonnades nor found Violets in any Paradise more blue Than those that blossomed on my own waste ground Nor vespers sweeter than the robins knew. Though earth be but an outpost of delight, Heaven"s wild frontier by tragedy beset, Only a Shakespeare may her gifts requite. Only a happy Raphael pay his debt.''' Yet I, to whom, even as to these, are given Cascading foam, emblazoned butterflies, The moon"s pearl chariot through the massed clouds driven, And the divinity of loving eyes, Would make my peace now with mine hostess Earth, Give and take pardon for all brief annoy, And toss her, far beneath my lodging"s worth, Poor that I am, a coin of golden joy. External links Woman of the Century/Katharine Lee Bates The Katharine Lee Bates Shrine Falmouth Museums on the Green Katharine Lee Bates at Project Gutenberg Profile at Harvard Square Library Category:1859 births Category:1929 deaths Category:19th-century poets from the United States Category:20th-century poets from the United States Category:Songwriters from the United States Category:Travel writers Category:Women authors from the United States Category:Poets from Massachusetts Category:Wellesley College alumni Category:Wellesley College faculty