# Maryland! My Maryland! (as enacted)

This is the original law, printed in the Session Laws of 1939, which enacted “Maryland, My Maryland” as the Maryland State Song.
CHAPTER 451.
(House Bill 374)
Whereas, it is represented to the General Assembly of Maryland, that the song entitled “Maryland! My Maryland!”, now ​used and heretofore known as the Maryland State Song, has never been formally adopted and legalized by Maryland as a State, its use having been continued by common consent only; and
Whereas,, it is not only desirable but eminently fitting that this song, which has been in use for so many years, should be formally adopted and legalized as the Maryland State Song; therefore,
Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That a new section be and the same is hereby added to Article 41 of the Code of Public General Laws of Maryland, the said new section to follow immediately after Section 33, to be placed under a new sub-title, reading “Maryland State Song”, to be known as Section 33A, and to read as follows:
33A. The poem composed by James Ryder Randall, in the year 1861, entitled “Maryland! My Maryland!”, heretofore and now sung to the tune of “Lauriger Horatius” and known as the Maryland State Song, is hereby adopted and legalized by the State of Maryland, as its State Song, the said song being in words as follows:
Maryland! My Maryland!
The despot’s heel is on thy shore, Maryland! His torch is at thy temple door, Maryland! Avenge the patriotic gore That flecked the streets of Baltimore, And be the battle queen of yore, Maryland! My Maryland!
Hark to an exiled son’s appeal, Maryland! My mother State! to thee I kneel, Maryland! For life and death, for woe and weal, Thy peerless chivalry reveal, And gird thy beauteous limbs with steel, Maryland! My Maryland!
Thou wilt not cower in the dust, Maryland! Thy beaming sword shall never rust, Maryland! Remember Carroll’s sacred trust, Remember Howard’s warlike thrust,— And all thy slumberers with the just, Maryland! My Maryland!
Come! ’tis the red dawn of the day, Maryland! Come with thy panoplied array, Maryland! With Ringgold’s spirit for the fray, With Watson’s blood at Monterey, With fearless Loew and dashing May, Maryland! My Maryland!
Come! for thy shield is bright and strong, Maryland! Come! for thy dalliance does thee wrong, Maryland! Come to thine own heroic throng, Stalking with Liberty along, And chaunt thy dauntless slogan song, Maryland! My Maryland!
Dear Mother! burst the tyrant’s chain, Maryland! Virginia should not call in vain, Maryland! She meets her sisters on the plain— “Sic semper” ’tis the proud refrain That baffles minions back again, Maryland! My Maryland!
I see the blush upon thy cheek, Maryland! For thou wast ever bravely meek, Maryland! But lo! there surges forth a shriek From hill to hill, from creek to creek— Potomac calls to Chesapeake, Maryland! My Maryland!
Thou wilt not yield the Vandall toll, Maryland! Thou wilt not crook to his control, Maryland! Better the fire upon thee roll, Better the blade, the shot, the bowl, Than crucifixion of the soul, Maryland! My Maryland!
I hear the distant thunder-hum, Maryland! The Old Line’s bugle, fife, and drum, Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb— Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum! She breathes! she burns! she’ll come! she’ll come! Maryland! My Maryland!
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect on June 1st, 1939.
Approved April 26, 1939.