The whip and thong,
Have scored my manhood's heart,
But ne'er again
Shall fiends constrain
My body to the slave's vile mart.
The 'whelming wave,
This corpse shall lave;
Let the winds still pipe aloud,
Let the waters lash,
The white foam dash,
O'er mangled brow and bloody shroud.
Roll on, thou free,
Unfettered sea,
Thy restless moan, my dirge,
My cradle deep
In my last lone sleep,
Is the scoop of thy hollow surge.
Would I might live,
_One_ glance to give,
To those whose hearts would bless,
Each word of love,
All price above,
As mine to theirs I press.
The wish is vain;
My frenzied brain,
Is dark'ning even now;
Above, above,
Is Heaven's love,
And mercy's wide arched bow.
Glad free-born soul
With grateful hold,
Now grasp the gift from Heav'n--
Thy freedom won,
New life begun,
Forgive, thou'rt there forgiv'n.
[Illustration: (signature) H. H. Greenough]
Let all be Free.
Unbounded in thy expanse--far reaching
From shore to shore--ever beautiful
Are thy crystal waters--O sea.
Beautiful--when thy waves, the white pebbles lave,
When the weary sea-birds sleep, upon the bosom of the deep.
But when thy storm-pressed billows burst,
The grasp which man would "lay upon thy mane,"
Then do I most love thee, sea,
Thou emblem of the _Free_.
When above me beam the stars,
How beautiful in their infinitude of light,
O'er the blue heavens spread, like gems
Upon the brow of youth!
Far, far away, beyond the paths of day,
More glorious yet, as suns which never set,
In darkness never! but shining forever!
You are more loved by me--
Ye emblems of the _Free_.
All earth of the beautiful is full.
Beautiful the streams which leave the rural vales,
Fringed with scarlet berries and leafy green!
O world of colors infinite, and lines of ever-varying grace,
How by sea and shore art thou ever beautiful!
But the torrent rushing by, and the eagle in the sky,
The Alpine heights of snow where man does never go,
More lovely are to me,
For they are _Free_.
Beautiful is man, and yet more beautiful
Woman: coupled by bare circumstance
Of place or gold, still beautif
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