O Ship of State
Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
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
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock and tempest's roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee.
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, -are all with thee!
The gentleman reading this did get choked up and so did I. I don't think there is any Q reference. i think he was reading a poem that said our Union must endure, must "sail on". It was referencing what went into making this Country, the blood, sweat and tears, the hard work, as what goes into making a ship, the sails, the masts. How much work is put into the ship to be sure it can sail on safely through all hardships. The pounding of the seas, the gale winds. All these can take down a ship just as things can take down a Country. But he calls for the ship to sail on, sail on through the hard times as we have our hopes, dreams and prayers to keep safe, must like a ship.