FREEDOM.
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nce I wished I might rehearseFreedom's paean in my verse,That the slave who caught the strainShould throb until he snapped his chain.But the Spirit said, 'Not so;Speak it not, or speak it low;Name not lightly to be said,Gift too precious to be prayed,Passion not to be expressedBut by heaving of the breast:Yet,--wouldst thou the mountain findWhere this deity is shrined,Who gives to seas and sunset skiesTheir unspent beauty of surprise,And, when it lists him, waken canBrute or savage into man;Or, if in thy heart he shine,Blends the starry fates with thine,Draws angels nigh to dwell with thee,And makes thy thoughts archangels be;Freedom's secret wilt thou know?--Counsel not with flesh and blood;Loiter not for cloak or food;Right thou feelest, rush to do.'
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