Fair Harvard
- Fair Harvard! we join in 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 thro' change and thro' storm.
- 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 thro' their tears.
- Thou then wert our parent, the nurse of our soul;
- We were molded to manhood by thee,
- Till freighted with treasure thoughts, friendships and hopes,
- Thou didst launch us on Destiny's sea.
- 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,
- Thro' thy precincts have musingly trod,
- As they girded their spirits or deepen'd the streams
- That make glad the fair city of God.
- 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,
- Till the stars in the firmament die.
- Original lyrics by Reverend Samuel Gilmore, Class of 1811
- [Revised 1997 and 2018]
Harvard University Band
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Radcliffe, Now We Rise to Greet Thee
- Radcliffe, now we rise to greet thee,
- Alma Mater, hail to thee!
- All our hearts are one in singing
Of our love and loyalty.
We have learn’d to know each other
In thy light, which clearly beams,
Thou hast been a kindly Mother,
Great fulfiller of our dreams.
Radcliffe, now we rise to greet thee,
Alma Mater, hail to thee! - Alma Mater, give thy daughters
Each a spark from Truth's pure flame;
Let them when they leave thy altars
Kindle others in thy name.
For our strength and joy in living,
Love and praise to thee belong;
Thou whose very life is giving,
From thy daughters take a song.
Radcliffe, now we rise to greet thee,
Alma Mater, hail to thee! - Words by Floretta Elmore, Class of 1909
Music by Emily Coolidge, Class of 1908 Radcliffe Choral Society
Traditional Harvard Fight Songs - lyrics and music