Classic Poem

I

White as the light of noonday sun,
The name and fame of Washington,
His deeds are writ with loving art
On every page of every heart,
His mighty men more stanch than oak,
In thunder tones to Britain spoke,
And from the mountain to the sea
The echoes rang with Liberty.

II

But never were we wholly free,
Or tasted sweetest liberty,
While from the east to western wave
One mortal called another, — " Slave! "
But when the civil conflict came,
When from the passion and the flame
The nation rose triumphant, free,
Then knew we sweetest Liberty.

III

When Lincoln bade a race arise
And look to God with new-born eyes,
This was the day and this the deed,
And Freedom stood unbonneted;
This was the deed and this the day
When all the Blue and all the Gray
Might reunite and sing in glee
Of Liberty, sweet Liberty.

IV

And now the sun of freedom shines,
And every vine of freedom twines, —
Holding the Union in a grasp,
No earthly power shall unclasp;
No North, no South, no East or West,
But one Republic brave and blest,
Whose song and watchword aye shall be,
But Liberty, sweet Liberty.