Classic Poem

EXORDIUM .

The Landmarks of Freemasonry are graven on God's Word;
It tells the Wisdom and the S TRENGTH and B EAUTY of the Lord;
These tapers three, in mystic form, reveal to willing eyes
The freest, purest, grandest light of Masons mysteries.
O Wise and Good G RAND Master ,
Reveal this Law to us!

As lies the mightiest oak within the acorn's fragile shell,
So, with the secrets of the Craft, they in this V OLUME dwell;
King Solomon, directed here by the Omniscient J UDGE ,
Drew forth the ashlars from their place, and built the Mason's Lodge.

The golden Law unfolds itself, mysterious, by degrees;
At first comes sunrise , then high twelve , then sunset gilds the trees;
So, by three grades, we see our Ladder up to Heaven ascend,
And rising stronger, clearer, holier to the very end.