To Columbia SONG To the Tune of the Anacreontic Thomas Paine Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Cleary, Scott M., ed. Claeys, Gregory, gen. ed. Thomas Paine Collected Writings. Vol. II. Part 2: Poetry. Princeton Princeton UP 2026 pp. []-[]. 5 Volumes.

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To Columbia SONG To the Tune of the Anacreontic I. To Columbia , who , gladly reclin’d at her ease , On Atlantic’s broad bosom lay smiling in peace ; Minerva flew hastily , sent from above , And addres’d her this message from thundering Jove : “ Rouse , quickly awake , For your freedom’s at stake , Storms arise your renown’d independence to shake ; Then lose not a moment , my aid I will lend , If your sons will assemble your rights to defend . ” II . Rous’d , Columbia rose up , and indignant , declar’d , That no nation she’d wrong’d & no nation she fear’d ; That she wish’d not for war , but if war was her fate , She would meet it with souls , independent and great : Then tell mighty Jove , That we quickly will prove , We’ll deserve the protection he’ll send from above . For ne’er shall the sons of America bend , But united , their rights and their freedom defend . III . Minerva smil’d cheerfully as she withdrew , Enraptur'd to find her Americans true ; “ For , ” said she “ our sly Mercury ofttimes reports That your sons are divided ” — Columbia retorts , Tell that vile God of Thieves , His report but deceives , And we care not what madman such nonsense believes For ne’er shall the sons of America bend , But , united , their rights and their freedom defend . IV . Jove rejoic’d in Columbians this union to see , And swore by old Styx , she deserv’d to be free , Then assembled the Gods , and to all gave consent , Their assistance if needful in war to present ; Mars arose , shook his armour , And swore , his old farmer Should ne’er in his country see aught that could harm her ; For ne’er should the Sons of America bend , But , united , their rights and their freedom defend . V. Minerva resolv’d that her Aegis she’d lend ; And Apollo declared he their cause would befriend ; Old Vulcan an armour would forge for their aid , More firm than the one for Achilles he made ; Then said he I’ll prepare A compound most rare , Of courage and union , each a full share ; Then ne’er shall the sons of America bend , But their rights and their freedom most firmly defend . VI . Ye sons of Columbia , then join hand in hand , Divided we fall , but united we stand ; ’Tis ours to determine , ’tis ours to decree , That in peace we will live independent and free , And should from afar , Break the horrors of war , We’ll always be ready at once to declare , That ne’er will the sons of America bend ; But united their rights and their freedom defend .