The Bartholdi Statue

The land, that, from the rule of kings,     In freeing us, itself made free,     Our Old World Sister, to us brings     Her sculptured Dream of Liberty,     Unlike the shapes on Egypt's sands     Uplifted by the toil-worn slave,     On Freedom's soil with freemen's hands     We rear the symbol free hands gave.     O France, the beautiful! to thee     Once more a debt of love we owe     In peace beneath thy Colors Three,     We hail a later Rochambeau!     Rise, stately Symbol! holding forth     Thy light and hope to all who sit     In chains and darkness! Belt the earth     With watch-fires from thy torch uplit!     Reveal the primal mandate still     Which Chaos heard and ceased to be,     Trace on mid-air th' Eternal Will     In signs of fire: "Let man be free!"     Shine far, shine free, a guiding light     To Reason's ways and Virtue's aim,     A lightning-flash the wretch to smite     Who shields his license with thy name