Page:Poems written during the progress of the abolition question in the United States.djvu/94

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A son of free America—amidst those titled knaves,
He answers Austria's haughty prince—'My trade is in my slaves!'
A smile of mockery and joy o'er each stern visage steals,
As the answer of our countryman a kindred soul reveals;
The bosom-friends of Metternich—the tyrant of the times,
They hate our blessings, but they love our follies and our crimes.

Shame rest upon our countrymen, who in their wanderings claim
Companionship with tyranny—by kindred deeds of shame.
America a mockery! a strengthener to the hands
Of robbery and wrong, and crime in less enlightened lands!
Where the fires on Freedom's altars, with feeble flickerings burn;
The hearts that light and nurse them there, to us for guidance turn.
Millions of Freedom's children, of every clime and name,
Watch anxiously the western world, and glory in our fame.
The guide of nations! shall our path so blind and erring be,
That hope must die, where'er a heart is burning to be free?