Aaron Belford Thompson, "Emancipation" (1899)
Three cheers! well may we shout with joy,
And hail Emancipaton;
Our fetters long have been destroyed:
We are a free, free, nation.
No more like cattle on the hills,
That feed upon the clover;
Shall wait our brethern for their doom,
Unable to discover.
No more upon our brother's track,
We'll hear the blood-hounds baying;
The cries of men to bring him back,
With curse and evil sayings.
No more our maidens bought and sold,
The southorn tyrant's booty;
No more the brutal trader's gold,
Shall buy the sable beauty.
No more our brave and gallant youths,
Shall tremble of the morrow;
Behold, sweet liberty and truth,
Hath broke the chains of sorrow.
For now we stand on freedom's plain,
With joy and exultation:
Though scarred and maimed,
From bondage chain,
We'll hail Emancipation.
Three cheers! we'll shout our liberty:
Long may our nation live,
Large, large, may grow her fruitful tree,
And sweetest manna give.
Published in Morning Songs, 1899