Ode For General Washingtons Birthday（1 / 2）

ode for general washington's birthday

no spartan tube, no attic shell,

no lyre aeolian i awake;

'tis liberty's bold note i swell,

thy harp, columbia, let me take!

see gathering thousands, while i sing,

a broken chain exulting bring,

and dash it in a tyrant's face,

and dare him to his very beard,

and tell him he no more is feared—

no more the despot of columbia's race!

a tyrant's proudest insults brav'd,

they shout—a people freed! they hail an empire saved.

where is man's god-like form?

where is that brow erect and bold—

that eye that can unmov'd behold

the wildest rage, the loudest storm

that e'er created fury dared to raise?

avaunt! thou caitiff, servile, base,

that tremblest at a despot's nod,

yet, crouching under the iron rod,

canst laud the hand that struck th' insulting blow!

art thou of man's imperial line?

dost boast that countenance divine?

each skulking feature answers, no!

but come, ye sons of liberty,

columbia's offspring, brave as free,

in danger's hour still flaming in the van,

ye know, and dare maintain, the royalty of man!

alfred! on thy starry throne,

surrounded by the tuneful choir,

the bards that erst have struck the patriot lyre,