 | The epic of Columbus' bell and other poems |  |
40
APOSTROPHE TO FREEDOM.
Where'er a land there is whose mountains wave
Their lofty tops that rising sunbeams lave;
Where lives so'er a race whose people praise
The true and living God; let Freedom raise,
From those proud heights, her ensign to the skies;
Amidst that race, let Freedom's altar rise!
Their lofty tops that rising sunbeams lave;
Where lives so'er a race whose people praise
The true and living God; let Freedom raise,
From those proud heights, her ensign to the skies;
Amidst that race, let Freedom's altar rise!
Thine, Freedom! be the praise of every tongue,
As thine the conquest to redress the wrong,
In every clime, of every toil-worn slave,
That wends his sorrowed pathway to the grave.
As thine the conquest to redress the wrong,
In every clime, of every toil-worn slave,
That wends his sorrowed pathway to the grave.
Inspired by thee, great Lincoln's mighty pen
Proclaimed thy sovereignty to bleeding men,
Brought o'er in gyves from Afric's sunny land,
And sold to Slavery's unrequiting hand.
Proclaimed thy sovereignty to bleeding men,
Brought o'er in gyves from Afric's sunny land,
And sold to Slavery's unrequiting hand.
At thee, Freedom! proud monarchs hurl their might,
And Treason's marshaled hosts against thy right
Contend in vain; but thou, with banner unfurl'd,
Shalt march triumphant through the conquered world.
And Treason's marshaled hosts against thy right
Contend in vain; but thou, with banner unfurl'd,
Shalt march triumphant through the conquered world.
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The muse of poesy shall ever sing,
Recording History the praises ring,
Of thee, blest Freedom! ay, shall sing of thee,
Shall waft thy paeans over every sea
And gamut of ages down, while yet there lives
A race that loves the boon thy triumph gives.
Recording History the praises ring,
Of thee, blest Freedom! ay, shall sing of thee,
Shall waft thy paeans over every sea
And gamut of ages down, while yet there lives
A race that loves the boon thy triumph gives.
| The epic of Columbus' bell and other poems | |