AN ODE, For the FOURTH of JULY

Hail lovely maid! Hail power divine! Hail Independence! at whose shrine The just do tribute pay; May thy bright rays each patriot fire, May earth-born souls to thee aspire, And hail th'auspicious Day.

On Europe's mystic shore enchain'd By despots' mandates there restrain'd, By superstition bound; Columbus, like the orient morn, Arose, dispell'd the black'ning storm, And leap'd the gulph profound.

The Curlew scream'd, the Tritons blew, While cross th'Atlantic swift they flew, To reach Vespacia's clime; The sea-gods rose from ocean's bed, The patriot band in safety led The radiant maid divine.

The Dryads hail their Heaven-born guest, And Freedom rear'd its fulgent crest, And hail'd the auspicious rite; The clarions loud from state to state Fair Independence verberate, When first she saw the light.

The mandates of great Jove's obey'd, The wood-nymphs seize the infant maid, Like wisdom fair she stands; As rolling years matur'd her age, With bold oppression she engag'd, And burst despotic bands.

This day, this blest propitious day, The rolls of light she did display, Asserted Freedom's cause; She broke tyrannic Albion's chain, And drove him from fair truth's domain, Where nature's God forms laws.

Then, patriots, join the festive throng, And hail this day with mirth and song, And harmony and glee; With shouts of joy from state to state, Let Heaven's bright spheres reverberate IMMORTAL LIBERTY.