Volume 1 / Part 1 / Act 2 — OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
Reading edition
A Metrical Essay.
The freeman casting with unpurchased hand The vote that shakes the turrets of the land.
Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high, And many an eye has danced to see That banner in the sky.
Nail to the mast her holy flag, Set every threadbare sail, And give her to the god of storms, The lightning and the gale.
Urania.
Yes, child of suffering, thou mayst well be sure, He who ordained the Sabbath loves the poor!— And, when you stick on conversation's burrs, Don't strew your pathway with those dreadful urs.
The Music-Grinders.
You think they are crusaders, sent From some infernal clime, To pluck the eyes of Sentiment, And dock the tail of Rhyme, To crack the voice of Melody, And break the legs of Time.