Atlanta Exposition Ode + 

“Cast down your bucket where you are,” + 

From burning sands or Polar star + 

From where the iceberg rears its head + 

Or where the kingly palms outspread; + 

’Mid blackened fields or golden sheaves, + 

Or foliage green, or autumn leaves, + 

Come sounds of warning from afar, + 

“Cast down your bucket where you are.” + 

What doth it matter if thy years + 

Have slowly dragged ’mid sighs and tears? + 

What doth it matter, since thy day + 

Is brightened now by hope’s bright ray. + 

The morning star will surely rise, + 

And Ethiop’s sons with longing eyes + 

And outstretched hands, will bless the day, + 

When old things shall have passed away. + 

Come, comrades, from the East, the West! + 

Come, bridge the chasm. + 

It is best. + 

Come, warm hearts of the sunny South, + 

And clasp hands with the mighty North. + 

Rise Afric’s sons and chant with joy, + 

Good will to all without alloy; + 

The night of grief has passed away⁠— + 

On Orient gleams a brighter day. + 

Say, ye that wore the blue, how sweet + 

That thus in sympathy we meet, + 

Our brothers who the gray did love + 

And martyrs to their cause did prove. + 

Say, once for all and once again, + 

That blood no more shall flow in vain; + 

Say Peace shall brood o’er this fair land + 

And hearts, for aye, be joined with hand. + 

Hail! Watchman, from thy lofty height; + 

Tell us, O tell us of the night? + 

Will Bethlehem’s Star ere long arise + 

And point this nation to the skies? + 

Will paeans ring from land and sea + 

Fraught with untrammelled liberty + 

Till Time’s appointed course be run, + 

And Earth’s millennium be began? + 

“Cast down your bucket,” let it be + 

As water flows both full and free! + 

Let charity, that twice blest boon + 

Thy watchword be from night to morn. + 

Let kindness as the dew distil + 

To friend and foe, alike, good will; + 

Till sounds the wondrous battle-call, + 

For all one flag, one flag for all. + 