BIRTH OF FREEDOM.

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BY WM. WALLACE, AUTHOR OF “JERUSALEM,” “STAR LYRA,” ETC.

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Yes, Freedom! Tyrants date thy splendid birth

With those uprisings in the bloody Past,

When all the lion-hearted of the earth

Unfurl’d their rebel-banners to the blast,

And from their limbs the dungeon-fetter cast;

But thou, Oh, idol of the brave! was’t born,

In full-grown majesty, upon that morn

When all the stars together sang, and forms

Of wondrous beauty, suns of dazzling light

Flamed from the bosom of those primal storms

Which lashed the rivers of chaotic night:

And some would drive thee from our gloomy sod;

Vainly they war with such blasphemous might;

Thy birth-place, Freedom! was the heart of God.