20 + 

O my rapt verse, my call, mock me not! + 

Not for the bards of the past, not to invoke them have I launch’d you forth, + 

Not to call even those lofty bards here by Ontario’s shores, + 

Have I sung so capricious and loud my savage song. + 

Bards for my own land only I invoke, + 

(For the war, the war is over, the field is clear’d,) + 

Till they strike up marches henceforth triumphant and onward, + 

To cheer O Mother your boundless expectant soul. + 

Bards of the great Idea! bards of the peaceful inventions! (for the war, the war is over!) + 

Yet bards of latent armies, a million soldiers waiting ever-ready, + 

Bards with songs as from burning coals or the lightning’s fork’d stripes! + 

Ample Ohio’s, Kanada’s bards⁠—bards of California! inland bards⁠—bards of the war! + 

You by my charm I invoke. + 