 | Freedom's Offering, |  |
19
The Fugitive.
Behold great nature's noble man!The self-emancipated free,
Who for his right, sweet liberty,
Life's risks most freely ran.
From slavery's shackles thou'rt free,
Fond nature doth in thee rejoice;
Hark! hear the sound of freedom's voice
Triumphant hailing thee.
Thou wil'st thy brother man no wrong,
But thankful to the God of might,
Rejoicing in thine own birth-right,
Soundest bold freedom's gong.
Wake up ye mouutains, far and wide,
Ye verdant valleys cheerily ring!
Tremble slavery! thou tyrant King!
Roll onward, freedom's tide!
Where Bunkerhill's proud summit rears
Its lofty monumented head,
Where freedom's martyrs fought and bled,
The hallowed shout who hears?
With slavery's shackles on his feet,
Who shrinks beneath th' accursed lash,
The galling knout, the bleeding gash,
Who bows his fate to meet?
None. Freedom's consecrated land,
Thy founders sought the bold and free,
Oh, may their sons forever be!
True to that pilgrim band.
Thy spirit, like the ocean free!
All boundless in its onward march,
O'er earth, neath heaven's broad blue arch,
Thy empires spread shall be!
Go bid the southern tyrant cease
To exercise unhallowded power!
To let his fellow man in peace
Depart, and from the very hour,
20
The aspiration of the soul!
And rise to freedom's lofty tower.
See, on thy glorious banner set
Proud freedom's emblem on the wing!
Where Justice, Freedom, Peace, have met,
Unto the skies their peans sing.
To nature none more firm and true
Than he who rises in his might,
Rejoicing in his birth anew,
Reclaims his native heaven born right.
The shackles from his limbs unbound,
Dispelled the gloom that clouded mind,—
On earth none nobler can be found,
Than this the noblest of mankind.
| Freedom's Offering, | |