Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/39



I SEEM to hear a distant voice Thus feebly and imploring say, "My sons—supporters of my laws,    Arouse ye at my call to day."

Is this my Country? She whose tone Was once so strong, so bold, so just; Now like a captive sad and lone, Why sighs she faintly from the dust?

Ask not: I cannot answer why; Turn from me, I would seek to mourn: But cast not thine indignant eye On yonder banner stain'd and torn.

Its hue was once like mountain snows, Which no rude foot had ever prest; And like the azure tint that glows, When summer suns the skies invest.