Happy may be the land Where mortals with their eyes uplifted stand While Eloquence her thunder rolls: Happier, where no deceptive light Bursts upon Passion's stormy night, Guiding to rocks and shoals. Happiest of all, where Man shall lay His limbs at their full length, nor overcast The sky above his head, but the pure ray Shines brighter on the future than the past. Look, look into the east afar, Refulgent western Star! And where the fane of Pallas stands, Rear'd to her glory by his hands, Thou, altho' nowhere else, shalt see A statesman and a chief like thee. How rare the sight, how grand! Behold the golden scales of Justice stand Well balanced in a mailed hand! Following the calm Deliverer of Mankind, In thee again we find This spectacle renew'd. Glory altho' there be To leave thy country free, Glory had reacht not there her plenitude. Up, every son of Afric soil, Ye worn and weary hoist the sail, For your own glebes and garners toil With easy plough and lightsome flail: A father's home ye never knew, A father's home your sons shall have from you. Enjoy your palmy groves, your cloudless day, Your world that demons tore away. Look up! look up! the flaming sword Hath vanisht! and behold your Paradise restored. Never was word more bold Than through thy cities ran, Let gold be weighed for gold, Let man be weighed for man. Thou spakest it; and therefore praise Shall crown thy later as thy earlier days, And braid more lovely this last wreath shall bind. Where purest is the heart's atmosphere Atlantic Ruler! there Shall men discern at last the loftiest mind. Rise, and assert thy trust! Enforcing to be just, The race to whom alone Of Europe's sons was never known (In mart or glade) The image of the heavenly maid Astraea; she hath called thee; go Right onward, and with tranchant prow The hissing foam of Gallic faith cut thro'. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VIGNETTES OVERSEAS: 8. FLORENCE by SARA TEASDALE LINES WRITTEN IN THE ALBUM AT ELBINGERODE, IN HARTZ FOREST by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: CARL HAMBLIN by EDGAR LEE MASTERS FOR [OR TO] THOSE WHO FAIL by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER A BALLADE OF EVOLUTION by GRANT ALLEN GREENES FUNERALLS: SONNET 5 by RICHARD BARNFIELD |