I WOULD BE FREE.
I would be free! thou God of earth and heaven,
Who didst not make the high immortal soul
To sink beneath the storm-clouds earthward driven.
The clouds of darkness that around us roll.
O! in our brightest days of early promise,
A warning voice bids slumbering joy depart;
A cold, strong grasp tears every blossom from us,
A cold, dead hand is laid upon each heart.
Who didst not make the high immortal soul
To sink beneath the storm-clouds earthward driven.
The clouds of darkness that around us roll.
O! in our brightest days of early promise,
A warning voice bids slumbering joy depart;
A cold, strong grasp tears every blossom from us,
A cold, dead hand is laid upon each heart.
I would be free! I would throw off the mountain
Of weariness that would my spirit break,
And upward spring, e'en as a free-born fountain
Springs to the music that its murmurs make.
Sad thoughts should be but as the little pebbles,
Soon, though reluctant, swept far out of view,
While the glad waves dash o'er the simple rebels,
Shouting with laughter, and with triumph too.
Of weariness that would my spirit break,
And upward spring, e'en as a free-born fountain
Springs to the music that its murmurs make.
Sad thoughts should be but as the little pebbles,
Soon, though reluctant, swept far out of view,
While the glad waves dash o'er the simple rebels,
Shouting with laughter, and with triumph too.
I would be free! earth must not play the tyrant,
Nor make one thought of mine bow to its sway;
My soul would mount above, a calm aspirant,
Flinging its leaden shackles all away.
Nor make one thought of mine bow to its sway;
My soul would mount above, a calm aspirant,
Flinging its leaden shackles all away.
