[ { "title": "Liberty", "author": "James Whitcomb Riley", "lines": [ "New Castle, July 4, 1878", "", "or a hundred years the pulse of time", "Has throbbed for Liberty;", "For a hundred years the grand old clime", "Columbia has been free;", "For a hundred years our country's love,", "The Stars and Stripes, has waved above.", "", "Away far out on the gulf of years--", "Misty and faint and white", "Through the fogs of wrong--a sail appears,", "And the Mayflower heaves in sight,", "And drifts again, with its little flock", "Of a hundred souls, on Plymouth Rock.", "", "Do you see them there--as long, long since--", "Through the lens of History;", "Do you see them there as their chieftain prints", "In the snow his bended knee,", "And lifts his voice through the wintry blast", "In thanks for a peaceful home at last?", "", "Though the skies are dark and the coast is bleak,", "And the storm is wild and fierce,", "Its frozen flake on the upturned cheek", "Of the Pilgrim melts in tears,", "And the dawn that springs from the darkness there", "Is the morning light of an answered prayer.", "", "The morning light of the day of Peace", "That gladdens the aching eyes,", "And gives to the soul that sweet release", "That the present verifies,--", "Nor a snow so deep, nor a wind so chill", "To quench the flame of a freeman's will!", "", "II", "", "Days of toil when the bleeding hand", "Of the pioneer grew numb,", "When the untilled tracts of the barren land", "Where the weary ones had come", "Could offer nought from a fruitful soil", "To stay the strength of the stranger's toil.", "", "Days of pain, when the heart beat low,", "And the empty hours went by", "Pitiless, with the wail of woe", "And the moan of Hunger's cry--", "When the trembling hands upraised in prayer", "Had only the strength to hold them there.", "", "Days when the voice of hope had fled--", "Days when the eyes grown weak", "Were folded to, and the tears they shed", "Were frost on a frozen cheek--", "When the storm bent down from the skies and gave", "A shroud of snow for the Pilgrim's grave.", "", "Days at last when the smiling sun", "Glanced down from a summer sky,", "And a music rang where the rivers run,", "And the waves went laughing by;", "And the rose peeped over the mossy bank", "While the wild deer stood in the stream and drank.", "", "And the birds sang out so loud and good,", "In a symphony so clear", "And pure and sweet that the woodman stood", "With his ax upraised to hear,", "And to shape the words of the tongue unknown", "Into a language all his own--", "", "", "1", "", "'Sing! every bird, to-day!", "Sing for the sky so clear,", "And the gracious breath of the atmosphere", "Shall waft our cares away.", "Sing! sing! for the sunshine free;", "Sing through the land from sea to sea;", "Lift each voice in the highest key", "And sing for Liberty!'", "", "", "2", "", "'Sing for the arms that fling", "Their fetters in the dust", "And lift their hands in higher trust", "Unto the one Great King;", "Sing for the patriot heart and hand;", "Sing for the country they have planned;", "Sing that the world may understand", "This is Freedom's land!'", "", "", "3", "", "'Sing in the tones of prayer,", "Sing till the soaring soul", "Shall float above the world's control", "In freedom everywhere!", "Sing for the good that is to be,", "Sing for the eyes that are to see", "The land where man at last is free,", "O sing for liberty!'", "", "III", "", "A holy quiet reigned, save where the hand", "Of labor sent a murmur through the land,", "And happy voices in a harmony", "Taught every lisping breeze a melody.", "A nest of cabins, where the smoke upcurled", "A breathing incense to the other world.", "A land of languor from the sun of noon,", "That fainted slowly to the pallid moon,", "Till stars, thick-scattered in the garden-land", "Of Heaven by the great Jehovah's hand,", "Had blossomed into light to look upon", "The dusky warrior with his arrow drawn,", "As skulking from the covert of the night", "With serpent cunning and a fiend's delight,", "With murderous spirit, and a yell of hate", "The voice of Hell might tremble to translate:", "When the fond mother's tender lullaby", "Went quavering in shrieks all suddenly,", "And baby-lips were dabbled with the stain", "Of crimson at the bosom of the slain,", "And peaceful homes and fortunes ruined--lost", "In smoldering embers of the holocaust.", "Yet on and on, through years of gloom and strife,", "Our country struggled into stronger life;", "Till colonies, like footprints in the sand,", "Marked Freedom's pathway winding through the land--", "And not the footprints to be swept away", "Before the storm we hatched in Boston Bay,--", "But footprints where the path of war begun", "That led to Bunker Hill and Lexington,--", "For he who \"dared to lead where others dared", "To follow\" found the promise there declared", "Of Liberty, in blood of Freedom's host", "Baptized to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!", "", "Oh, there were times when every patriot breast", "Was riotous with sentiments expressed", "In tones that swelled in volume till the sound", "Of lusty war itself was well-nigh drowned.", "Oh, those were times when happy eyes with tears", "Brimmed o'er as all the misty doubts and fears", "Were washed away, and Hope with gracious mien,", "Reigned from her throne again a sovereign queen.", "Until at last, upon a day like this", "When flowers were blushing at the summer's kiss,", "And when the sky was cloudless as the face", "Of some sweet infant in its angel grace,--", "There came a sound of music, thrown afloat", "Upon the balmy air--a clanging note", "Reiterated from the brazen throat", "Of Independence Bell: A sound so sweet,", "The clamoring throngs of people in the streets", "Were stilled as at the solemn voice of prayer,", "And heads were bowed, and lips were moving there", "That made no sound--until the spell had passed,", "And then, as when all sudden comes the blast", "Of some tornado, came the cheer on cheer", "Of every eager voice, while far and near", "The echoing bells upon the atmosphere", "Set glorious rumors floating, till the ear", "Of every listening patriot tingled clear,", "And thrilled with joy and jubilee to hear.", "", "I", "", "'Stir all your echoes up,", "O Independence Bell,", "And pour from your inverted cup", "The song we love so well.", "", "'Lift high your happy voice,", "And swing your iron tongue", "Till syllables of praise rejoice", "That never yet were sung.", "", "'Ring in the gleaming dawn", "Of Freedom--Toll the knell", "Of Tyranny, and then ring on,", "O Independence Bell.--", "", "'Ring on, and drown the moan,", "Above the patriot slain,", "Till sorrow's voice shall catch the tone", "And join the glad refrain.", "", "'Ring out the wounds of wrong", "And rankle in the breast;", "Your music like a slumber-song", "Will lull revenge to rest.", "", "'Ring out from Occident", "To Orient, and peal", "From continent to continent", "The mighty joy you feel.", "", "'Ring! Independence Bell!", "Ring on till worlds to be", "Shall listen to the tale you tell", "Of love and Liberty!'", "", "IV", "", "O Liberty--the dearest word", "A bleeding country ever heard,--", "We lay our hopes upon thy shrine", "And offer up our lives for thine.", "You gave us many happy years", "Of peace and plenty ere the tears", "A mourning country wept were dried", "Above the graves of those who died", "Upon thy threshold. And again", "When newer wars were bred, and men", "Went marching in the cannon's breath", "And died for thee and loved the death,", "While, high above them, gleaming bright,", "The dear old flag remained in sight,", "And lighted up their dying eyes", "With smiles that brightened paradise.", "O Liberty, it is thy power", "To gladden us in every hour", "Of gloom, and lead us by thy hand", "As little children through a land", "Of bud and blossom; while the days", "Are filled with sunshine, and thy praise", "Is warbled in the roundelays", "Of joyous birds, and in the song", "Of waters, murmuring along", "The paths of peace, whose flowery fringe", "Has roses finding deeper tinge", "Of crimson, looking on themselves", "Reflected--leaning from the shelves", "Of cliff and crag and mossy mound", "Of emerald splendor shadow-drowned.--", "We hail thy presence, as you come", "With bugle blast and rolling drum,", "And booming guns and shouts of glee", "Commingled in a symphony", "That thrills the worlds that throng to see", "The glory of thy pageantry.", "0And with thy praise, we breathe a prayer", "That God who leaves you in our care", "May favor us from this day on", "With thy dear presence--till the dawn", "Of Heaven, breaking on thy face,", "Lights up thy first abiding place." ], "linecount": "224" }, { "title": "Liberty", "author": "Edward Thomas", "lines": [ "THE last light has gone out of the world, except", "This moonlight lying on the grass like frost", "Beyond the brink of the tall elm's shadow", "It is as if everything else had slept", "Many an age, unforgotten and lost", "The men that were, the things done, long ago,", "All I have thought; and but the moon and I", "Live yet and here stand idle over the grave", "Where all is buried. Both have liberty", "To dream what we could do if we were free", "To do some thing we had desired long,", "The moon and I. There's none less free than who", "Does nothing and has nothing else to do,", "Being free only for what is not to his mind,", "And nothing is to his mind. If every hour", "Like this one passing that I have spent among", "The wiser others when I have forgot", "To wonder whether I was free or not,", "Were piled before me, and not lost behind,", "And I could take and carry them away", "I should be rich; or if I had the power", "To wipe out every one and not again", "Regret, I should be rich to be so poor.", "And yet I still am half in love with pain,", "With what is imperfect, with both tears and mirth,", "With things that have an end, with life and earth,", "And this moon that leaves me dark within the door." ], "linecount": "27" }, { "title": "Liberty", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The fiery mountains answer each other;", "Their thunderings are echoed from zone to zone;", "The tempestuous oceans awake one another,", "And the ice-rocks are shaken round Winter's throne,", "When the clarion of the Typhoon is blown.", "", "From a single cloud the lightening flashes,", "Whilst a thousand isles are illumined around,", "Earthquake is trampling one city to ashes,", "An hundred are shuddering and tottering; the sound", "Is bellowing underground.", "", "But keener thy gaze than the lightening's glare,", "And swifter thy step than the earthquake's tramp;", "Thou deafenest the rage of the ocean; thy stare", "Makes blind the volcanoes; the sun's bright lamp", "To thine is a fen-fire damp.", "", "From billow and mountain and exhalation", "The sunlight is darted through vapour and blast;", "From spirit to spirit, from nation to nation,", "From city to hamlet thy dawning is cast,--", "And tyrants and slaves are like shadows of night", "In the van of the morning light." ], "linecount": "21" } ]