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The Abolition Of Serfdom In Russia
From the great, imperial city
Has gone forth the fixed decree,
That the Russian serf forever
From oppression shall be free!
Has gone forth the fixed decree,
That the Russian serf forever
From oppression shall be free!
Through a long, long night of bondage,
He has felt the oppressor's rod;
Bought and sold by haughty boyars,
Held for life to till the sod.
He has felt the oppressor's rod;
Bought and sold by haughty boyars,
Held for life to till the sod.
The increasing light of knowledge
Still denied to heart and mind;
He for ages has toiled onward
To its cheering radiance blind.
Still denied to heart and mind;
He for ages has toiled onward
To its cheering radiance blind.
With a nature thus degraded,
His own good he scarce has known;
While, in lands by Freedom favored,
Man to manhood's height has grown.
His own good he scarce has known;
While, in lands by Freedom favored,
Man to manhood's height has grown.
But the day at length is dawning
O'er the dark and frozen North;
Now the trumpet's voice proclaimeth
Man's true dignity and worth.
O'er the dark and frozen North;
Now the trumpet's voice proclaimeth
Man's true dignity and worth.
That to all the right belongeth,
To the strong and to the weak,
To the noble, and the peasant,
Knowledge, happiness to seek.
To the strong and to the weak,
To the noble, and the peasant,
Knowledge, happiness to seek.
335
Unto Russia's Czar be honor,
For his brows the laurel twine;
His a nobler crown and kingdom,
Than the greatest of his line.
For his brows the laurel twine;
His a nobler crown and kingdom,
Than the greatest of his line.
Poem No. 142; c. 6 April 1861
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