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| YES! thou hast met the sun’s last smile | |
| From the haunted hills of Rome; | |
| By many a bright Ægean isle | |
| Thou hast seen the billows foam. | |
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| From the silence of the Pyramid, | 5 |
| Thou hast watched the solemn flow | |
| Of the Nile, that with its waters hid | |
| The ancient realm below. | |
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| Thy heart hath burned, as shepherds sung | |
| Some wild and warlike strain, | 10 |
| Where the Moorish horn once proudly rung | |
| Through the pealing hills of Spain. | |
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| And o’er the lonely Grecian streams | |
| Thou hast heard the laurels moan, | |
| With a sound yet murmuring in thy dreams | 15 |
| Of the glory that is gone. | |
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| But go thou to the pastoral vales | |
| Of the Alpine mountains old, | |
| If thou wouldst hear immortal tales | |
| By the wind’s deep whispers told! | 20 |
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| Go, if thou lov’st the soil to tread | |
| Where man hath nobly striven, | |
| And life, like incense, hath been shed, | |
| An offering unto Heaven. | |
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| For o’er the snows and round the pines | 25 |
| Hath swept a noble flood; | |
| The nurture of the peasant’s vines | |
| Hath been the martyr’s blood! | |
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| A spirit stronger than the sword | |
| And loftier than despair, | 30 |
| Through all the heroic region poured, | |
| Breathes in the generous air. | |
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| A memory clings to every steep | |
| Of long-enduring faith, | |
| And the sounding streams glad record keep | 35 |
| Of courage unto death. | |
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| Ask of the peasant where his sires | |
| For truth and freedom bled; | |
| Ask where were lit the torturing fires, | |
| Where lay the holy dead; | 40 |
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| And he will tell thee, all around, | |
| On fount and turf and stone, | |
| Far as the chamois’ foot can bound, | |
| Their ashes have been sown! | |
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| Go, when the Sabbath bell is heard | 45 |
| Up through the wilds to float, | |
| When the dark old woods and caves are stirred | |
| To gladness by the note; | |
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| When forth, along their thousand rills, | |
| The mountain people come, | 50 |
| Join thou their worship on those hills | |
| Of glorious martyrdom. | |
| |
| And while the song of praise ascends, | |
| And while the torrent’s voice, | |
| Like the swell of many an organ, blends, | 55 |
| Then let thy soul rejoice. | |
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| Rejoice, that human hearts, through scorn, | |
| Through shame, through death, made strong, | |
| Before the rocks and heavens have borne | |
| Witness of God so long! | 60 |
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