Poems (Jones)/The Soliloquy of Liberty

by Amanda Theodosia Jones

THE SOLILOQUY OF LIBERTY.

  NATION of my hope,
  Prove true, I said:
 The lines of thy horoscope.
   My Chaldean lore hath read:
And far through the night burns an arc of light,
   Where the prophet-star hath sped:
   Prove true, I said.

  By God's most sacred hand,
   (Prove true, I said:)
  Into a bountiful land
   Thine infant steps were led;
And the flower and the vine gave honey and wine,
   Whereby thy life was fed:
   Prove true, I said.

  Hurt by the wrath of kings,
   (Prove true, I said:)
  Thou, under the eagle's wings,
   Didst shelter thy drooping head,
While the rain of thy wound did cover the ground,
   Of lucid dew, in the stead:
   Prove true, I said.

  To the holy truth of God,
   Prove true, I said:
  Though struck by his chastening rod,
   Or tried in the furnace dread,
Or chained, death-cold, to the rocks of old,
   Where vulture flocks were fed,—
   Prove true, I said.

  O people of my love,
   Be free, I said:
  Till all the fires above
   From the altars of heaven are fled;
Till its halls of light have sevenfold might,
   And the spheres are dumb with dread,—
   Be free, I said.

  On Afric's golden strand,
   (Be free, I said:)
  The wild wind gave command,
   And the ships before it fled,—
Till the Southern wine of this people of mine
   With Afric's blood was red:
   Be free, I said.

  Ah, then fierce madness came;
   (Be free, I said!)
  The air was hot with flame,
   The rivers below ran red;
For the guns did roar from shore to shore,
   And the heart of the nation bled:
   Be free, I said.

  Down fell the slaver's whip,
   (Be free, I said!)
  And clanking chains did slip
   From limbs that shook with dread;
While the burning breath of that wind of death,
   At the smile of Jehovah, fled:
   Be free, I said.

  Then all the people bowed;
   (Be free, I said:)
  For the bolt that hissed in the cloud
   From God's right hand had sped;
But heaven grew bright with sevenfold light,
   For the sake of the royal dead:
   Be free, I said.

  O nation of my hope,
   Live long! I said;
  With the lines of thy horoscope
   A threefold splendor is wed;
For thy stars with the moon, and the sun at noon,
   On golden wings have sped:
   Live long, I said.

  Live till the seas go dry,—
   Live long, I said;
  Till the sluices of the sky
   Their last, wild rains have shed;
Till the roses pale, and the seasons fail,
   And mountains bury the dead:
   Live long! I said.

  Thou nation of my heart,
   Live long! I said:
  Live till the stars depart,
   By the wan moon deathward led;
Till the sun drops down like a shattered crown
   From an old king's dying head:
   Live long! I said.