che, on those
Who, foes to you, are Freedom's, Virtue's foes!
So Freedom spake: she stood august and high;
Like a pale meteor shone her troubled eye;
She smote her shield, and, with indignant look,
More awful her uplifted war-spear shook. 100
From many a wild and woodland solitude,
O'erhung with snowy-silvered mountains rude;
From glassy lakes, or where the brawling brook
Wells, sparkling, through some beech-embowered nook;
From scattered chalets, decked with mantling vines,
Above whose blue smoke wave the impending pines;
From many a covert green, or gleaming rock,
The bold defenders of their country flock!
Upon a cliff, that at gray morning throws
Its shadow o'er the deep clear lake's repose, 110
Their gallant leader stands. Children, he cries,
And one sad tear-drop gathers in his eyes,
Their arms prevail! Helvetia mourns in vain!
Bound by the ruthless victor's galling chain,
We only 'mid these rocky ramparts find
Brief shelter from the vultures of mankind;
Hither they speed their desolating sway,
They flap their bloody pinions o'er their prey;
But we have hearts, my brethren, and we know
What to our country and our God we owe; 120
And we have arms, arms that may make them rue
(Though rude our ramparts, our defenders few),
The hour when they assailed this last retreat. 123
Feel we our hearts beat high, our pulses beat?
Death calls us, yet, oh, lowly let us bend,
And pray to Him who is the poor man's friend,
That he would guard our orphans when we bleed,
And shield them in the bitter hour of need!
Now, soldier, let thy huge artillery roar,
Thy marshalled columns flash along the shore, 130
Thy armed transports with long shadow ride
Terrific o'er the lake's once tranquil tide,
And thy loud trumpets bray, as in disdain
Of the poor tenants of the snowy plain.
They fear thee not, they are oppression's foes;
Unscared, thy march of carnage they oppose;
Though their fallen brethren have in vain withstood;
Though yet thy sword be red with their best blood;
Thy sword, thy steeds, thy legions, they defy,
And death is couched within their flashing eye! 140
Age has new energies; in traces weak
An angry hectic rises on his cheek;
And as his time-t