Personal and Political Ballads/A Voice from Spain
A VOICE FROM SPAIN.
Ode to Abraham Lincoln.
Translated from the Spanish of Carolina Coronado de Perry, by Martha Perry Lowe.
LINCOLN, I salute thee! conqueror thou art.Chosen of the people's heart.Traversing the mighty billows o'er Of the wondrous, awful sea, From America the free,Thou hast reached unto this far-off Spanish shore.
Glorious exemplar of the Christian calling, I have beard thy accents falling,Heard thee raise thy voice against the tyrants' cause. So the genius of the great, Sovereign people of the State,May preserve the volume of its sacred laws.
Wondrous book—the admiration of the ages! In those solitudes, the pagesFrom the lofty soul of Washington were born— Pages whose subline commnands, Seizing with their reckless hands,Bastard sons of liberty have rudely torn.
I behold thee calm, amid the tumult gazing, Quailing not before the blazingOf the traitors' fire within thy land begun. They would in dishonor drag At their feet the blushing flag,Fluttering there before the fillibuster's gun.
My own ancestors, like thine of early story, Saw of old thy country's glory.Valiant men they were who sailed away from here, Leaving traces all around, Like thy names in history found;Handing memories down to every coming year.
And I feel my longing spirit in me burning With an infinite and tender yearning,When I look upon the conquests of the brave— Deeming they have served the end, Only further to extendThe abhorred territory of the slave.
Ah! what will become of that great nation yonder, If the maddening clouds that wander,Threatening all the heaven, should gather in their sight? Darkening in the azure sky, With their shadows rising high—What if they extinguish all the vivid light?
With a fixed and earnest eye that noble country seeing, Whence my children drew their beingI do tremble for those stars upon the blue; For my very life is blent With the brightness they have lent,And if they are waning, I am waning too.
But I listen to the Northern armies cheering, Their huzzas and plaudits hearing,Which they raise on high to herald thy increase; And their ardor I do share, Lifting up my humble prayerFor their liberty, their glory, and their peace.
And to thee, Señor, the hope of all the nation, My good cheer and salutationI would send amid the mighty billows' roar— Send across the solemn sea, To America the free,Wafted by the breezes of the Spanish shore.