Beneath the burden of our joy Tremble, O wires, from East to West! Fashion with words your tongues of fire, To tell the nation's high behest. Outstrip the winds, and leave behind The murmur of the restless waves; Nor tarry with your glorious news, Amid the ocean's coral caves. Shake off the dust, O rising race! Crowned as a brother and a man; Justice to-day asserts her claim, And from thy brow fades out the ban. With freedom's chrism upon thy head, Her precious ensign in thy hand, Go place thy once despised name Amid the noblest of the land. O ransomed race! give God the praise, Who led thee through a crimson sea, And 'mid the storm of fire and blood, Turned out the war-cloud's light to thee. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOMESDAY BOOK: HENRY BAKER, AT NEW YORK by EDGAR LEE MASTERS HORACE TO LEUCONOE by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE DARKEST HOUR; OXFORD, 1917 by GEORGE SANTAYANA SONNET, WRITTEN IN JANUARY 1817 by JOHN KEATS SONG OF THE SPANISH JEWS by GRACE AGUILAR THE COMBAT, BETWEENE CONSCIENCE AND COVETOUSNESSE by RICHARD BARNFIELD |