The Fire of Friendship

Today in Masonic History we present The Fire of Friendship by Rob Morris.

Men of the bright inheritauce, oh, true and loving band,
Who, linked in chains of Masonry, around this altar stand,
Bright let The Fire of Friendship burn and warmly let It glow,
For a stranger from a distant land comes in your circle now.

The Acacia bloom, in every clime, the Broken Shaft doth rear
Its monrnful form in mystic guise, and meets us everywhere;
The Gavel rings o'er land and sea, yon Emblem speaks the same
About the globe, as here it speaks, The Universal Name.

And why? because One God we have, in whom alone we trust;
He made us all, Our Father made us all of kindred dust;
The same green Mother Earth, the broad, the generous He gave,
That feeds us while we live, and gives us when we die, a grave.

We build a common Temple too, the lofty and the low,
We bring the same heart-offerings and in common homage bow;
Our Tracing Board the same designs in every clime has given,
And, servlng the same Master, we expect the same bright Heaven.

Then let the stranger have a place within your mystic band,
Where eye responsive answers eye, and hand unites with hand;
He knows your Word, He knows your sign, He asks no better grace
Than with you here to sit awhile and greet you face to face.

Peace in the lodges where you work be heaven's boon to-day;
Peace, Peace ;-It Is the yearning prayer the stranger's heart would pray;
And could they hear it from the land and from the rolling sea,
From every Mason's lips would come the cry,
SO MOTE IT BE!