Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79.
Hellas
By James Gates Percival (1795–1856)L
Land of gods and godlike men,
Thine were hearts that could not quail,—
Earth was glorious then;
Thine were souls that dared be free;
Power, and fame, and liberty.
Thou wert like the sun in heaven;
Like the bow that spans the shower,
Thou to earth wert given:
Nations turned to thee and prayed
Thou wouldst fold them in thy shade.
Thou didst spring at once to power,
With the energy that frees
Millions in an hour:
From the wave, the rock, the glen,
Freedom called her chosen then.
Did thy sons draw back in fear?
No,—with Ægis like a sun,
Pallas hovered near:
Wisdom with her diamond shield
Guarded well the fatal field.
Meet for such divine abode;
There in majesty alone,
Loftily she trode:
Time in vain his bolt has hurled;
Still it stands, to awe the world.
From its dim and deathly dreams:
O, shall man again inherit
Such undying beams?
Lend thy kindling breath awhile;
Earth shall then in glory smile.
Echoes to immortal strains,
Light is round the stream and fountain,
Light on all thy plains.
Never shall thy glory set;
Thou shalt be our beacon yet.
To the tombs that hold their sires,—
One by one their chains are falling,—
They have lit their fires;
See! from peak to peak they run,
Bearing Freedom’s signal on.
Wide and far the glory flows;
Streams of light unearthly gush
From their crown of snows.
Hear ye not the warning call?
“Shall a nation rise and fall?”
Though a world look coldly on;
Be the unyielding spirit given,—
Be the battle won;
Or if hope desert the brave,
Be their land their common grave!
Be thy rocks a nation’s tomb,—
Man shall sink, no more to rise,
If they meet that doom!
Come, ye slaves! and read, and fear,—
Freedom’s last, best hope is here!