From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this poem titled “West Virginia” by Granville D. Hall, dated October 4, 1927:

WEST VIRGINIA

“Child of the Tempest”–O, puny Ship of State!

Christened with the Crimson vintage of the War,

Fate gives thee launch upon a dark unquiet tide;

But the future signals welcome from afar,

Anchored to the Union, thou shalt ride

In haven safe while smiling fortunes wait!

“We know what master laid thy keel;

What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel;

Who made each mast, and sail, and rope;

What anvils rang, what hammers beat–

In what a forge and what a heat

Thy anchors grew–our Hope.” (*)

We laid deep with all our love,

With all our hopes, and bid thee go–

Despite the frowning skies above;

Breasting the heaving tides below–

Forth to the future, strong in right.

Time evens all, and God is just.

In thine own strength and to His might,

Our best beloved–our all–we trust.

Fare forth, O, rich imperial State!

Virginia’s last reluctant gift,

Award of War, the fruit of Fate.

The Sea subsides, the storm-clouds lift.

Take courage, Heir to halcyon years!

Beware the reef; the treacherous lee;

Beware the perils yet to be.

The Prosperous Isles, their lures and guiles;

Their apples of gold, their sirens’ smiles–

Are waiting to win thee from the Sea.

Once more the skies shall bend serene,

And placid seas He broad between;

The tempest past, the radiant bow

Shall arch the heavens above thy prow;

And golden shores beyond the Sea

Shall lift their fronds to welcome thee.

(*) Longfellow

(Granville D. Hall was formerly the editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer. He is now living in retirement [in] Glencie, Ill.)