"For God is King of all the earth; sing praises in a skillful psalm
and with understanding. God reigns over the nations; God sits upon
His holy throne. The princes and nobles of the people are gathered
together, a united people for the God of Abraham, for the shields
of the earth belong to God: He is highly exalted."
(Psalm 47:7-9)
captured during the Battle of San Juan in the Spanish-American War of 1898.
Photograph by William Dinwiddie
Image courtesy/Library of Congress via Wikipedia
To what new fates, my country, far
And unforeseen of foe or friend,
Beneath what unexpected star,
Compelled to what unchosen end,
Across the sea that knows no beach
The Admiral of the Nations guides
Thy blind obedient keels to reach
The harbor where thy future rides!
The guns that spoke at Lexington
Knew not that God was planning then
The trumpet word of Jefferson
To bugle forth the rights of men.
To them that wept and cursed Bull Run,
What was it but despair and shame?
Who saw behind the cloud the sun?
Who knew that God was in the flame?
Had not defeat upon defeat
Disaster on disaster come,
The slave's emancipated feet
Had never marched behind the drum.
There is a Hand that bends our deeds
To mightier issues than we planned;
Each son that triumphs, each that bleeds,
My country, serves Its dark command.
I do not know beneath what sky
Nor on what seas shall be thy fate;
I only know it shall be high,
I only know it shall be great.
"UnManifest Destiny"*
(1898)
From "Along The Trail"
By Richard Hovey
(1864-1900)
American poet
* This poem was written during the Spanish-American War in 1898,
which brought into use the phrase, "Manifest Destiny" referring to
the new world policy of nations.
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