Poems (Jackson)/Freedom
For works with similar titles, see Freedom.
FREEDOM.
HAT freeman knoweth freedom? Never heWhose father's fathers through long lives have reignedO'er kingdoms which mere heritage attained.Though from his youth to age he roam as free As winds, he dreams not freedom's ecstasy.But he whose birth was in a nation chainedFor centuries; where every breath was drainedFrom breasts of slaves which knew not there could beSuch thing as freedom,—he beholds the lightBurst, dazzling; though the glory blind his sightHe knows the joy. Fools laugh because he reelsAnd wields confusedly his infant will;The wise man watching with a heart that feelsSays: "Cure for freedom's harms is freedom still."