Song (Brontë, "Come to the banquet—triumph in your songs!")

by Anne Brontë

For works with similar titles, see Song.

Come to the banquet - triumph in your songs!
Strike up the chords - and sing of Victory!
The oppressed have risen to redress their wrongs;
The Tyrants are o'erthrown; the Land is free!
The Land is free! Aye, shout it forth once more;
Is she not red with her oppressors' gore?
We are her champions - shall we not rejoice?
Are not the tyrants' broad domains our own?
Then wherefore triumph with a faltering voice;
And talk of freedom in a doubtful tone?
Have we not longed through life the reign to see
Of Justice, linked with Glorious Liberty?

Shout you that will, and you that can rejoice
To revel in the riches of your foes.
In praise of deadly vengeance lift you voice,
Gloat o'er your tyrants' blood, you victims' woes.
I'd rather listen to the skylarks' songs,
And think on Gondal's, and my Father's wrongs.

It may be pleasant, to recall the death
Of those beneath whose sheltering roof you lie;
But I would rather press the mountain heath,
With naught to shield me from the starry sky,
And dream of yet untasted victory -
A distant hope - and feel that I am free!

O happy life! To range the mountains wild,
The waving woods - or Ocean's heaving breast,
With limbs unfettered, conscience undefiled,
And choosing where to wander, where to rest!
Hunted, oppressed, but ever strong to cope -
With toils, and perils - ever full of hope!

'Our flower is budding' - When that word was heard
On desert shore, or breezy mountain's brow,
Wherever said - what glorious thoughts it stirred!
'Twas budding then - Say has it blossomed now?
Is this the end we struggled to obtain?
O for the wandering Outlaw's life again!