Page:The Spirit of the Nation.djvu/87

Rh The mist of prejudice, as from a lake,

Is rising from men's minds, and tyrants quake

Reading the signs aright that speak our coming fate.

Then up! for here the patriot heart may glow

With ecstacy that tame life cannot know.

I.

What curse is on our land and us,

That bigot strife so long has lasted—

That every cheering prospect thus

Is by its fatal influence blasted!

That still, when round our banner green

The dawning hope of freedom rallies,

Religious discord comes between,

To mix her poison in the chalice!

II.

Religious discord! Oh! shall man,

The worm by doubt and darkness bounded,

His fellow-creature dare to ban,

For faith, in God, sincerely founded!

A holier gospel let us preach,

In spite of angry bigot's railing—

His own eternal hope to each;

But love and peace through all prevailing.

III.

And are not all our ties the same—

One sod beneath—one blue sky o'er us;