Heap high the board with plenteous cheer and gather to the feast, And toast the sturdy Pilgrim band whose courage never ceased.

The couplet is a celebratory call to communal gratitude, using the imagery of a well-laden table to evoke a harvest or Thanksgiving-style gathering. “Heap high the board” frames abundance as something to be shared, while “gather to the feast” emphasizes fellowship and ritual. The second line shifts from present enjoyment to historical remembrance: the “sturdy Pilgrim band” functions as an emblem of perseverance, and the toast links contemporary comfort to ancestral hardship and resolve. Overall, the lines blend festivity with civic-moral memory, suggesting that celebration is most meaningful when paired with acknowledgment of endurance and collective origins.