What were you carrying, Pilgrims, Pilgrims?
What did you carry beyond the sea?
We carried the Book, we carried the Sword,
A steadfast heart in the fear of the Lord,
And a living faith in His plighted word
That all men shold be free. What were your memories, Pilgrims, Pilgrims?
What of the dreams you bore away?
We carried the songs our fathers sung
By the hearths of home when they were young,
And the comely words of the mother-tongue
In which they learnt to pray.
What did you find there, Pilgrims, Pilgrims?
What did you find beyond the waves?
A stubborn land and a barren shore,
Hunger and want and sickness sore:
All these we found and gladly bore
Rather than be slaves.
How did you fare there, Pilgrims, Pilgrims?
What did you build in that stubborn land?
We felled the forest and tilled the sod
Of a continent no man had trod
And we established there, in the Grace of God,
The rights whereby we stand.
What are you bringing us, Pilgrims, Pilgrims?
Bringing us back in this bitter day?
The selfsame things we carried away:
The Book, the Sword,
The fear of the Lord,
And the boons our fathers dearly bought:
Freedom of Worship, Speech and Thought,
Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear,
The liberties we hold most dear,
And who shall say us Nay?
