Given by WB Ellis Mills at the 2006 Barn Raising.

Author M.W. Benjamin Hadley, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maine

In Masons' Lodge with darkened eyes, And cable tow about you, You swore to keep all mysteries

That Masons keep and Masons prize; The Brothers' secret whispered low; The words they speak, the things they do, In mystic manner taught you, On yonder book, that oath you took, And you should break it never, But stand by this ___, and this ___, and this ___, Forever and forever.

You swore to answer and obey The summons sent you duly, By Brothers' hand or Lodge away; You swore that you would never stray From ancient laws and rules that bound Freemasons in the days renowned, But would observe them truly. On yonder book, that oath you took, And you should break it never, But stand by this ___, and this ___, and this ___, Forever and forever.

You swore with generous gifts, to care For those in sorrow stricken, The Brother on the darkened square, The mourner with disheveled hair, The orphan doomed, alas! to stray Along life's cold and cheerless way, Whose tears gush forth unhidden. On yonder book, that oath you took, And you should break it never, But stand by this ___, and this ___, and this ___, Forever and forever.

You swore with honesty to deal With each true heart around you; That "honor bright should ever be Unbroken bond" 'twixt him and you Nor wrong, nor guile, nor cruel fraud Shall ever break the holy cord With which that vow hath bound you. On yonder book, that oath you took, And you should break it never, But stand by this ___, and this ___, and this ___, Forever and forever.

You swore the chastity to keep, Of woman true and tender, Of Masons' widow, wife or child, His mother, sister, undefiled -- Those pure and innocent, whose love Make Masons' home like that above; You are the sworn defender. On yonder book, that oath you took, And you should break it never, But stand by this ___, and this ___, and this ___, Forever and forever.

(The Lodge is called up at this point)

These are our vows, Brethren, our care, And may such light be given In answer to our earnest prayer,

That we may do and dare

All that God's sacred laws enjoin, So, when the evening shades pass o'er us, We may be found in Heaven. For, on yonder book, that oath we took, And we will break them never, But stand by this ___, and this ___, and this ___, Forever and forever.

NOTE: The blanks in the poem are replaced by the due guard of each successive degree.