A hundred years and more ago
A little child was born --
To-day, with pomp of martial show,
We hail his natal morn.

Who guessed as that poor infant wept
Upon a woman's knee,
A nation from the centuries stept
As weak and frail as he?

Who saw the future on his brow
Upon that happy morn?
We are a mighty nation now
Because that child was born.

To him, and to his spirit's scope,
Besides a glorious home,
We owe that what we have and hope
Are more than Greece and Rome.

Henry Timrod

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/song-composed-for-washington-s-birthday-and-respectfully-inscribed-to-the-officers-and-members-of-the-washington-light-infantry-of-charleston-february-22-1859/