O Southland!
O Southland! O Southland!
Have you not heard the call,
The trumpet blown, the word made known
To the nations, one and all?
The watchword, the hope-word,
Salvation's present plan?
A gospel new, for all-for you
Man shall be saved by man.
O Southland! O Southland!
Do you not hear to-day
The mighty beat of onward feet,
And know you not their way?
'Tis forward, 'tis upward,
On to the fair white arch
Of Freedom's dome, and there is room
For each man who would march.
O Southland, fair Southland!
Then why do you still cling
To an idle age and a musty page,
To a dead and useless thing?
'Tis springtime! 'Tis work-time!
The world is young again!
And God's above, and God is love,
And men are only men.
O Southland! my Southland!
O birthland! do not shirk
The toilsome task, nor respite ask,
But gird you for the work.
Remember, remember
That weakness stalks in pride;
That he is strong who helps along
The faint one at his side.
poem by James Weldon Johnson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Alaskan Balladry, No.1
The Northland reared his hoary head
And spied the Southland leagues away-
'Fairest of all fair brides,' he said,
'Be thou my bride, I pray!'
Whereat the Southland laughed and cried:
'I'll bide beside my native sea,
And I shall never be thy bride
Till thou com'st wooing me!'
The Northland's heart was a heart of ice,
A diamond glacier, mountain high-
Oh, love is sweet at any price,
As well know you and I!
So gayly the Northland took his heart
And cast it in the wailing sea-
'Go, thou, with all thy cunning art,
And woo my bride for me!'
For many a night and for many a day,
And over the leagues that rolled between,
The true-heart messenger sped away
To woo the Southland queen.
But the sea wailed loud, and the sea wailed long,
While ever the Northland cried in glee:
'Oh, thou shalt sing us our bridal song,
When comes my bride, O sea!'
At the foot of the Southland's golden throne
The heart of the Northland ever throbs-
For that true-heart speaks in the waves that moan,
The songs that it sings are sobs.
Ever the Southland spurns the cries
Of the messenger pleading the Northland's part;
The summer shines in the Southland's eyes-
The winter bides in her heart!
And ever unto that far-off place
Which love doth render a hallowed spot,
The Northland turneth his honest face
And wonders she cometh not.
The sea wails loud, and the sea wails long,
As the ages of waiting drift slowly by,
But the sea shall sing no bridal song-
As well know you and I!
poem by Eugene Field
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The wooing of the southland
(ALASKAN BALLAD)
The Northland reared his hoary head
And spied the Southland leagues away--
"Fairest of all fair brides," he said,
"Be thou my bride, I pray!"
Whereat the Southland laughed and cried:
"I'll bide beside my native sea,
And I shall never be thy bride
Till thou com'st wooing me!"
The Northland's heart was a heart of ice,
A diamond glacier, mountain high--
Oh, love is sweet at any price,
As well know you and I!
So gayly the Northland took his heart
And cast it in the wailing sea--
"Go, thou, with all thy cunning art,
And woo my bride for me!"
For many a night and for many a day,
And over the leagues that rolled between,
The true-heart messenger sped away
To woo the Southland queen.
But the sea wailed loud, and the sea wailed long,
While ever the Northland cried in glee:
"Oh, thou shalt sing us our bridal song,
When comes my bride, O sea!"
At the foot of the Southland's golden throne
The heart of the Northland ever throbs--
For that true-heart speaks in the waves that moan,
The songs that it sings are sobs.
Ever the Southland spurns the cries
Of the messenger pleading the Northland's part;
The summer shines in the Southland's eyes--
The winter bides in her heart!
And ever unto that far-off place
Which love doth render a hallowed spot,
The Northland turneth his honest face
And wonders she cometh not.
The sea wails loud, and the sea wails long,
As the ages of waiting drift slowly by,
But the sea shall sing no bridal song--
As well know you and I!
poem by Eugene Field
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Southland In The Springtime
Maybe well make texas by the morning
Light the bayou with our tail lights in the night
800 miles to el paso from the state line
And we never have the money for the flight
Im in the back seat sleepy from the travel
We played our hearts out all night long in new orleans
And Im dirty from the diesel fumes, drinking coffee black
When the first breath of texas comes in clean
And theres something bout the southland in the springtime
Where the waters flow with confidence and reason
Though I miss her when Im gone
It wont ever be too long
Till Im home again to spend my favorite season
When God made me born a yankee he was teasin
Theres no place like home and none more pleasin
Than the southland in the springtime
In georgia nights are softer than a whisper
Beneath a quilt somebodys mother made by hand
With the farmland like a tapestry
Passed down through generations
And the peach trees stitched across the land
Therell be cider up near helen off the roadside
And boiled peanuts in a bag to warm your fingers
And the smoke from the chimneys meets its maker in the sky
With a song that winter wrote whose melody lingers
And theres something bout the southland in the springtime
Where the waters flow with confidence and reason
Though I miss her when Im gone
It wont ever be too long
Till Im home again to spend my favorite season
When God made me born a yankee he was teasin
Theres no place like home and none more pleasin
Than the southland in the springtime
song performed by by Indigo Girls
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
One-Hearted
When those red berries come in springtime,
Flushing on your southland branches,
Take home an armful, for my sake,
As a symbol of our love.
poem by Wang Wei
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian
Pretzel Logic
I would love to tour the southland
In a travelling minstrel show
Yes Id love to tour the southland
In a traveling minstrel show
Yes Im dying to be a star and make them laugh
Sound just like a record on the phonograph
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago, oh yeah
I have never met napoleon
But I plan to find the time
I have never met napoleon
But I plan to find the time
cause he looks so fine upon that hill
They tell me he was lonely, hes lonely still
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago, oh yeah
I stepped up on the platform
The man gave me the news
He said, you must be joking son
Where did you get those shoes?
Where did you get those shoes?
Well, Ive seen em on the tv, the movie show
They say the times are changing but I just dont know
These things are gone forever
Over a long time ago, oh yeah
song performed by by Steely Dan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Pale moon shining on the fields below
Folks are crooning songs soft and low
Needn't tell me so because I know
It's sleepy time down south
Soft winds blowing through the pinewood trees
Folks down there like a life of ease
When old mammy falls upon her knees
It's sleepy time down south
Steamboats on the river a coming or a going
Splashing the night away
Hear those banjos ringing, the people are singing
They dance til the break of day, hey
Dear old southland with his dreamy songs
Takes me back there where I belong
How I'd love to be in my mammy's arms
When it's sleepy time way down south
Dear old southland with his dreamy songs
Take me back there where I belong
How I'd love to be in my mammy's arms
When it's sleepy time down south
Sleepy time down south
song performed by by Louis Armstrong
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
America
I love thine inland seas,
Thy groves of giant trees,
Thy rolling plains;
Thy rivers' mighty sweep,
Thy mystic canyons deep,
Thy mountains wild and steep,
All thy domains;
Thy silver Eastern strands,
Thy Golden Gate that stands
Wide to the West;
Thy flowery Southland fair,
Thy sweet and crystal air, --
O land beyond compare,
Thee I love best!
Additional verses for the
National Hymn,
March, 1906.
poem by Henry Van Dyke
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Jim Crow Cars
If within the cruel Southland you have chanced to take a ride,
You the Jim Crow cars have noticed, how they crush a Negro's pride,
How he pays a first class passage and a second class receives,
Gets the worst accommodations ev'ry friend of truth believes.
'Tis the rule that all conductors, in the service of the train,
Practice gross discriminations on the Negro—such is plain—
If a drunkard is a white man, at his mercy Negroes are,
Legalized humiliation is the Negro Jim Crow car.
'Tis a license given white men, they may go just where they please,
In the white man's car or Negro's will they move with perfect ease,
If complaint is made by Negroes the conductor will go out
Till the whites are through carousing, then he shows himself about.
They will often raise a riot, butcher up the Negroes there,
Unmolested will they quarrel, use their pistols,rant and swear,
They will smoke among the ladies though offensive the cigar;
'Tis the place to drink their whiskey, in the Negro Jim Crow car.
If a Negro shows resistance to his treatment by a tough,
At some station he's arrested for the same, though not enough,
He is thrashed or lynched or tortured as will please the demon's rage,
Mobbed, of course, by 'unknown parties,' thus is closed the darkened page.
If a lunatic is carried, white or black, it is the same,
Or a criminal is taken to the prison-house in shame,
In the Negro car he's ushered with the sheriff at his side,
Out of deference for white men in their car he scorns to ride.
We despise a Negro's manhood, says the Southland, and expect,
All supremacy for white men—black men's rights we'll not protect,
This the Negro bears with patience for the nation bows to might,
Wrong has borne aloft its colors disregarding what is right.
This is called a Christian nation, but we fail to understand,
How the teachings of the Bible can with such a system band;
Purest love that knows no evil can alone the story tell,
How to banish such abuses, how to treat a neighbor well.
poem by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Birth Of The Blues (feat. Willie Nelson)
Oh they say some people long ago
Were searching for a different tune
One that they could croon as only they can
They heard the breeze in the trees
Singing weird melodies
And they made that the start of the blues
And from a jail came the wail
Of a down-hearted frail
And they played that as part of the blues
From a whippoorwill out on a hill
They took a new note
Pushed it through a horn till it was worn into a blue note
And then they nursed it, rehearsed it
and gave out the news
That the Southland gave birth to the blues
song performed by by Randy Travis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Torn Between Two Worlds
We're headed to the southland
to avoid the wintry scenes.
I will not miss the falling snows
or temperatures in the teens.
What I will miss is the comfort I feel
of being where I was born.
Whenever I travel away from here
a part of me does mourn.
Still I await the reunion with my sons
and their families that I love.
My grandchildren's smiles and interests
that to me are far and above
my loneliness that nags at me
to be where I'm at home.
It's strange what familiarity does to the heart.
It tells me not to roam.
Being torn between here and there
is never an easy thing.
It's like being in the middle of a song
that you've forgotten how to sing.
But off we'll go and the south will appear
and we will settle in.
We'll bide our time and enjoy our families
and southern living will begin.
poem by Edwina Reizer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Sweet Home Alabama
Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the Southland
I miss Alabamy once again
And I think its a sin, yes
Well I heard mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around anyhow
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
In Birmingham they love the gov' nor
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Here I come Alabama
Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they've been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I'm feeling blue
Now how about you?
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Sweet home Alabama
Oh sweet home baby
Where the skies are so blue
And the guv'nor's true
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
song performed by by Jewel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Old Log Train
Hank williams sr.
(d) if you will listen a (g) song I will (d) sing
About my daddy who ran a log (a) train
Way (d) down in the southland in (g) old ala- (d) bam
We lived in a place that they (a) call chatmantown.
And late in the evening when the sun was low
Way off in the distance you could hear the train blow
The boys would come runnin and mamma would sing,
Get the supper on the table here comes the log train.
Every morning at the break of day
Hed grab his lunch bucket and be on his way
In winter or summer, sunshine or rain
Every mornin hed run that old log train.
A sweatin and swearin all day long
Shoutin git-up there oxen, keep movin along,
Load er up boys cause it looks like rain,
Ive got get rollin this old log train.
This story happened a long time ago
The log train is silent, God called daddy to go
But when I get to heaven to always remain
Ill listen for the whistle of the old log train.
song performed by by Hank Williams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Sweeet Home Alabama
Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the Southland
I miss Alabamy once again
And I think its a sin, yes
Well I heard mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around anyhow
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
In Birmingham they love the governor
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Here I come Alabama
Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they've been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I'm feeling blue
Now how about you?
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Sweet home Alabama
Oh sweet home baby
Where the skies are so blue
And the governor's true
Sweet Home Alabama
Lordy Lord, I'm coming home to you
Yea, yea Montgomery's got the answer
song performed by by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Sweet Home Alabama
(ed king - ronnie vanzant - gary rossington)
Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the southland
I miss alabamy once again
And I think its a sin, yes
Well I heard mister young sing about her
Well, I heard ole neil put her down
Well, I hope neil young will remember
A southern man dont need him around anyhow
Sweet home alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home alabama
Lord, Im coming home to you
In birmingham they love the governor
Now we all did what we could do
Now watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth
Sweet home alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home alabama
Lord, Im coming home to you
Here I come alabama
Now muscle shoals has got the swampers
And theyve been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when Im feeling blue
Now how about you?
Sweet home alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home alabama
Lord, Im coming home to you
Sweet home alabama
Oh sweet home baby
Where the skies are so blue
And the governors true
Sweet home alabama
Lordy
Lord, Im coming home to you
Yea, yea montgomerys got the answer
song performed by by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Sweet Home Alabama
(ed king - ronnie vanzant - gary rossington)
Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the southland
I miss alabamy once again
And I think its a sin, yes
Well I heard mister young sing about her
Well, I heard ole neil put her down
Well, I hope neil young will remember
A southern man dont need him around anyhow
Sweet home alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home alabama
Lord, Im coming home to you
In birmingham they love the governor
Now we all did what we could do
Now watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth
Sweet home alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home alabama
Lord, Im coming home to you
Here I come alabama
Now muscle shoals has got the swampers
And theyve been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when Im feeling blue
Now how about you?
Sweet home alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home alabama
Lord, Im coming home to you
Sweet home alabama
Oh sweet home baby
Where the skies are so blue
And the governors true
Sweet home alabama
Lordy
Lord, Im coming home to you
Yea, yea montgomerys got the answer
song performed by by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Sweet Home Alabama
(Original by Lynyrd Skynard)
Big wheels keep on turning carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the southland
I miss my family once again and I think it's a sin
Well I heard Mr. Young sing about her
Well I heard Ol' Neil put her down
Well I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around anyhow
CHORUS:
Sweet home Alabama where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama Lord I'm coming home to you
In Birmingham they love the governor boo-hoo-hoo
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you tell me true
CHORUS:
Here I come Alabama
SOLO
Now Muscle Shoals has got the swampers, they've been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I'm feelin' blue
Now how about you
CHORUS:
Sweet home Alabama where the skies are so blue oh sweet home
Sweet home Alabama Lord I'm coming home to you And the gov'nor's true
Sweet home Alabama where the skies are so blue oh yeah
Sweet home Alabama Lord I'm coming home to you yeah yeah
song performed by by Counting Crows
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Spanish Needle
Lovely dainty Spanish needle
With your yellow flower and white,
Dew bedecked and softly sleeping,
Do you think of me to-night?
Shadowed by the spreading mango,
Nodding o'er the rippling stream,
Tell me, dear plant of my childhood,
Do you of the exile dream?
Do you see me by the brook's side
Catching crayfish 'neath the stone,
As you did the day you whispered:
Leave the harmless dears alone?
Do you see me in the meadow
Coming from the woodland spring
With a bamboo on my shoulder
And a pail slung from a string?
Do you see me all expectant
Lying in an orange grove,
While the swee-swees sing above me,
Waiting for my elf-eyed love?
Lovely dainty Spanish needle,
Source to me of sweet delight,
In your far-off sunny southland
Do you dream of me to-night?
poem by Claude McKay
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
When Its Sleepy Time Down South
Leon ren / otis ren / clarence muse
Homesick, tired, all alone in a big city
Why should eveybody pity me?
Nighttime falling, and Im yearning for virginia
Hospitality within ya calls me
Pale moon shining on the fields below
Folks are crooning songs soft and low
Need not tell me so,
Because I know its sleepy time down south
Softs winds blowing thru the pinewood trees
Folks down there live a life of ease
When the twilight brings the evening breeze
Its sleepy time down south
Steamboats on the river, a coming, a going
Splashing the night away
Hear those banjos ringing,
The folks are all singing
They dance till break of day
Dear old southland with its dreamy songs
Takes back there where I belong
Ill find heaven in my mothers arms
When its sleepy time down south
song performed by by Billie Holiday
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Western Australia
O Beauteous Southland! Land of yellow air
That hangeth o've thee slumbering, and doth hold
The moveless foliage of thy valleys fair,
And wooded hills, like aureole of gold.
Oh thou, discovered ere the fitting time,
Ere Nature in completion turned thee forth!
Ere aught was finished but thy peerless clime,
Thy virgin breath allured the amorous North.
O Land, God made thee wondrous to the eye!
But His sweet singers thou hast never heard;
He left thee, meaning to come bye-and-bye,
And give rich voice to every bright-winged bird.
He painted with fresh hues thy myriad flowers,
But left them scentless; ah! their woeful dole,
Like sad reproach of their creator's powers,
To make so sweet fair bodies, void of soul.
He gave thee trees of odorous precious wood;
But, midst them all, bloomed not one tree of fruit.
He looked, but said not that His work was good,
When leaving thee all perfumeless and mute.
He blessed thy flowers with honey; every bell
Looks earthward, sunward, with a yearning wist,
But no bee-lover ever notes the swell
Of hearts, like lips, a-hungering to be kist.
O Strange Land, thou art virgin! Thou art more
Than fig-tree barren! Would that I could paint
For other's eyes the glory of the shore
Where last I saw thee; but the senses faint.
In soft delicious dreaming when they drain
Thy wine of colour. Virgin fair thou art.
All sweetly fruitful, waiting with soft pain
The spouse that comes to wake thy sleeping heart.
poem by John Boyle O'Reilly
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
When Will It End?
Written during the Civil War in the United States.
O when will it end, this appalling strife,
With its reckless waste of human life,
Its riving of highest, holiest ties,
Its tears of anguish and harrowing sighs,
Its ruined homes from which hope has fled,
Its broken hearts and its countless dead?
In fair Virginia the new-made graves
Lie crowded thick as old ocean’s caves;
Whether sword or sickness dealt the blow,
What matters it?—They lie cold and low;
And Maryland’s heights are crimsoned o’er,
And its green vales stained, with human gore.
The stalwart man in the prime of life,
Sole stay of frail children and helpless wife;
The bright-eyed, ardent, and beardless boy,
Of some mother’s fond breast the pride and joy,
And the soldier-love, the idol rare
Of maiden and matron, gentle and fair.
The men of the North so dauntless and free,
The flower of the Southland chivalry,
The best and the bravest on either side,
Their citizen soldier, the nation’s pride,
Carelessly cast in each narrow, dank bed,
And fruitlessly numbered among the dead.
Are you nearer the end than when Sumter’s gun
Answered the summons of Charleston,
And the nation plunged in this deadly strife,
That has wrecked its happiness, wealth and life,—
Say what is your answer to foe or friend?
“’Tis a strife of which none can guess the end.”
Oh! keep your young strength for some stranger foe,
Let not brother’s rash hand lay brother low;
Remember one soil your childhood nursed,
In the past together your bonds you burst;
Together for freedom you learned to strike,
And brave Washington honored you both alike.
You have proved to the nations your mutual might;
You have proved you can suffer, struggle and fight;
By hundreds and thousands lie heaped your slain,
Your life-blood crimsons hill, stream and plain;
Prove of nobler struggle you are able yet,
And your mutual wrongs forgive and forget.
Oh, Father of mercies! stay now each hand,
Put back in its sheath the blood stained brand,
Whisper sage counsel to rulers proud,
Calm the wrath of the people, fierce and loud,
So that their hates and their strife may cease,
And their land know once more the boon of peace.
poem by Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!