Poems by Robert Nicoll Second edition: with numerous additions, and a memoir of the author |
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THE DEATH-SONG OF HOFER. |
 | Poems by Robert Nicoll |  |
THE DEATH-SONG OF HOFER.
My hour of life is nearly past,—
I shrink not from my doom:
The men of many lands will make
A pilgrim-shrine my tomb;
My name will be in coming time
The watchword of the free;
The mountains of my rugged home
My monuments will be.
I shrink not from my doom:
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A pilgrim-shrine my tomb;
My name will be in coming time
The watchword of the free;
The mountains of my rugged home
My monuments will be.
I have not borne a tyrant's thrall,
But stood for liberty—
Among our mountains and our rocks,
Where slaves can never be:
I stood, as stood the Switzer bold,
When Uri's horn did swell,—
I fought, I bled—my name will live
With that of William Tell.
But stood for liberty—
Among our mountains and our rocks,
Where slaves can never be:
I stood, as stood the Switzer bold,
When Uri's horn did swell,—
I fought, I bled—my name will live
With that of William Tell.
Death! what is death in freedom's cause?
For thee, mine own Tyrol,
Had I a thousand, thousand lives,
Oh! I would give the whole.
I die, as men should proudly do,
For home and liberty,—
I sow the seed that yet shall grow
And make my country free.
For thee, mine own Tyrol,
Had I a thousand, thousand lives,
Oh! I would give the whole.
I die, as men should proudly do,
For home and liberty,—
I sow the seed that yet shall grow
And make my country free.
Farewell, my craggy native hills,
My children all, farewell:
That Hofer was your father's name
Full proudly ye may tell.
Farewell, ye mountains heart-enshrined,—
God! shield a freeman's soul!
I die in joy—I die for thee—
My own—my wild Tyrol.
My children all, farewell:
That Hofer was your father's name
Full proudly ye may tell.
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God! shield a freeman's soul!
I die in joy—I die for thee—
My own—my wild Tyrol.
| Poems by Robert Nicoll | |