The tall ships passed the stormy cape; Beneath a burning, tropic clime, The Indian peasant, chasing the wild goat, In falling, clutched the frail arbute, The silver veins beneath it laid, The buried treasures of the miser, Time. But, lo! thy door is left ajar! Thou hearest footsteps from afar! And, at the sound, Thou turnest round With quick and questioning eyes. Like one, who, in a foreign land, Beholds on every hand Some source of wonder and surprise! And, restlessly, impatiently, Thou strivest, strugglest, to be free. The four walls of thy nursery Are now like prison walls to thee. No more the painted tiles, Delight thee, nor the playthings on the floor, That won thy little beating heart before; Thou strugglest for the open door. Through these once solitary halls Thy pattering footstep falls. Makes the old walls Jubilant, and they rejoice With the joy of thy young heart, O'er the light of whose gladness No shadows of sadness From the sombre background of memory start. Once, ah, once, within these walls, One whom memory oft recalls, The Father of his country, dwelt And yonder meadows broad and damp Up and down these echoing stairs, But what are these grave thoughts to thee? Out, out! into the open air! Thy only dream is liberty, Thou carest little how or where. I see thee eager at thy play, Now shouting to the apples on the tree, Along the garden walks, The tracks of thy small carriage-wheels I trace; That rise like golden domes Above the cavernous and secret homes Of wandering and nomadic tribes of ants. Who, with thy dreadful reign, Dost persecute and overwhelm These hapless Troglodytes of thy realm! What! tired already! with those suppliant looks, From which the laughing birds have taken wing, O child! O new-born denizen Of life's great city! on thy head Here at the portal thou dost stand, Thou openest the mysterious gate Into those realms of love and hate, |