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  Ah, then fierce madness came;   (Be free, I said!)  The air was hot with flame,   The rivers below ran red;For the guns did roar from shore to shore,   And the heart of the nation bled:   Be free, I said.

  Down fell the slaver's whip,   (Be free, I said!)  And clanking chains did slip   From limbs that shook with dread;While the burning breath of that wind of death,   At the smile of Jehovah, fled:   Be free, I said.

  Then all the people bowed;   (Be free, I said:)  For the bolt that hissed in the cloud   From God's right hand had sped;But heaven grew bright with sevenfold light,   For the sake of the royal dead:   Be free, I said.

  O nation of my hope,   Live long! I said;  With the lines of thy horoscope   A threefold splendor is wed;