Fair Harvard

[Verse 1]
Fair Harvard! Thy sons to thy Jubilee throng
And with blessings surrender thee o'er
By these festival rites, from the age that is past
To the age that is waiting before
O relic and type of our ancestors' worth
That hast long kept their memory warm
First flow'r of their wilderness! Star of their night!
Calm rising through change and through storm

[Verse 2]
To thy bow'rs we were led in the bloom of our youth
From the home of our infantile years
When our fathers had warn'd, and our mothers had pray'd
And our sisters had blest through their tears
Thou then wert our parent, the nurse of our soul
We were molded to manhood by thee
'Til freighted with treasure thoughts, friendships, and hopes
Thou didst launch us on Destiny's sea

[Verse 3]
When as pilgrims we come to revisit thy halls
To what kindlings the season gives birth!
Thy shades are more soothing, thy sunlight more dear
Than descend on less privileged earth
For the good and the great, in their beautiful prime
Through thy precincts have musingly trod
As they girded their spirits or deepen'd the streams
That make glad the fair city of God

[Verse 4]
Farewell! Be thy destinies onward and bright!
To thy children the lesson still give
With freedom to think, and with patience to bear
And for right ever bravely to live
Let not moss-covered error moor thee at its side
As the world on truth's current glides by
Be the herald of light, and the bearer of love
'Til the stock of the Puritans die