Behold a star appearing in the South, A star that shines apart from other stars, Ruddy and fierce like Mars! Out of the reeking smoke of cannon's mouth
That veils the slaughter of the Alamo, Where heroes face the foe, One man against a score, with blood-choked breath Shouting the watchword, “Victory or Death —”
Out of the dreadful cloud that settles low On Goliad's plain, Where thrice a hundred prisoners lie slain Beneath the broken word of Mexico —
Out of the fog of factions and of feuds That ever drifts and broods Above the bloody path of border war, Leaps the Lone Star!
What light is this that does not dread the dark? What star is this that fights a stormy way To San Jacinto's field of victory? It is the fiery spark
That burns within the breast Of Anglo-Saxon men, who can not rest Under a tyrant's sway; The upward-leading ray
That guides the brave who give their lives away Rather than not be free! O question not, but honour every name, Travis and Crockett, Bowie, Bonham, Ward,
Fannin and King, and all who drew the sword And dared to die for Texan liberty! Yea, write them all upon the roll of fame, But no less love and equal honour give
To those who paid the longer sacrifice — Austin and Houston, Burnet, Rusk, Lamar And all the stalwart men who dared to live Long years of service to the lonely star.
Great is the worth of such heroic souls: Amid the strenuous turmoil of their deeds, They clearly speak of something that controls The higher breeds of men by higher needs
Than bees, content with honey in their hives! Ah, not enough the narrow lives On profitable toil intent! And not enough the guerdons of success
Garnered in homes of affluent selfishness! A noble discontent Cries for a wider scope To use the wider wings of human hope;
A vision of the common good Opens the prison-door of solitude; And, once beyond the wall, Breathing the ampler air,
The heart becomes aware That life without a country is not life at all. A country worthy of a freeman's love; A country worthy of a good man's prayer;
A country strong, and just, and brave, and fair,— A woman's form of beauty throned above The shrine where noble aspirations meet — To live for her is great, to die is sweet!
Heirs of the rugged pioneers Who dreamed this dream and made it true, Remember that they dreamed for you. They did not fear their fate
In those tempestuous years, But put their trust in God, and with keen eyes, Trained in the open air for looking far, They saw the many-million-acred land
Won from the desert by their hand, Swiftly among the nations rise,— Texas a sovereign State, And on her brow a star!
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