Caxton's Book: A Collection of Essays, Poems, Tales, and Sketches.
Page 26
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XXIV.
_THE ENROBING OF LIBERTY._
The war-drum was silent, the cannon was mute, The sword in its scabbard lay still, And battle had gathered the last autumn fruit That crimson-dyed river and rill, When a Goddess came down from her mansion on high, To gladden the world with her smile, Leaving only her robes in the realm of the sky, That their sheen might no mortal beguile.
As she lit on the earth she was welcomed by Peace, Twin sisters in Eden of yore-- But parted forever when fetter-bound Greece Drove her exiled and chained from her shore; Never since had the angel of Liberty trod In virginal beauty below; But, chased from the earth, she had mounted to God, Despoiled of her raiment of snow.
Our sires gathered round her, entranced by her smile, Remembering the footprints of old She had graven on grottoes, in Scio's sweet Isle, Ere the doom of fair Athens was told. "I am naked," she cried; "I am homeless on earth; Kings, Princes, and Lords are my foes, But I stand undismayed, though an orphan by birth, And condemned to the region of snows."
"Hail, Liberty! hail"--our fathers exclaim-- "To the glorious land of the West! With a diadem bright we will honor thy name, And enthrone thee America's guest; We will found a great nation and call it thine own, And erect here an altar to thee, Where millions shall kneel at the foot of thy throne And swear to forever be free!"
Then each brought a vestment her form to enrobe, And screen her fair face from the sun, And thus she stood forth as the Queen of the globe When the work of our Fathers was done.
A circlet of stars round her temples they wove, That gleamed like Orion's bright band, And an emblem of power, the eagle of Jove, They perched like a bolt in her hand; On her forehead, a scroll that contained but a line Was written in letters of light, That our great "Constitution" forever might shine, A sun to illumine the night.
Her feet were incased in broad sandals of gold, That riches might spring in her train; While a warrior's casque, with its visor uproll'd, Protected her tresses and brain; Round her waist a bright girdle of satin was bound, Formed of colors so blended and true, That when as a banner the scarf was unwound, It floated the "Red, White and Blue."
Then Liberty calm, leant on Washington's arm, And spoke in prophetical strain: "Columbia's proud hills I will shelter from ills, Whilst her valleys and mountains remain; But palsied the hand that would pillage the band Of sisterhood stars in my crown, And death to the knave whose sword would enslave, By striking your great charter down.
"Your eagle shall soar this western world o'er, And carry the sound of my name, Till monarchs shall quake and its confines forsake, If true to your ancestral fame! Your banner shall gleam like the polar star's beam, To guide through rebellion's Red sea, And in battle 'twill wave, both to conquer and save, If borne by the hands of the free!"
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