Classic Poem

Where shall we find a refuge, noble friend,
For peace and freedom on this troubled earth?
The Century in tumult has its end,
And murder dogs the new one at its birth.

Burst are the links uniting land with land,
And ancient dignities and forms decline;
The rush of war the sea cannot withstand,
Nile cannot stem it, nor the hoary Rhine.

Two mighty nationalities contend
For the supreme possession of the world;
Others their hopes of freedom may suspend
While thunderbolts and tridents here are hurled.

For them must every land its gold afford,
And as did Brennus in his ruder day,
So does the Frank his heavy iron sword
Throw in, the even balance to outweigh.

The Briton spreads his all-pervading fleet,
Its greedy tentacles abroad are thrown;
Amphitrite's domain he would estreat,
And claim the whole of ocean for his own.

To unseen regions of the Southern Pole
His never-wearied footsteps he directs;
All shores and islands he would fain control,
And Paradise alone he still respects.

No map or chart there is, alas! I ween,
In which that happy country we shall find
Where freedom's garden is for ever green,
And youth perennial adorns mankind.

In boundless range the world before thee lies,
Even the shipping thou canst scarce compute:
Yet on its platform of unstinted size
For elbow room some dozen must dispute.

In the calm sanctuary of the heart
Fly to a refuge from this earthly throng!
Dreamland alone true freedom can impart,
And beauty only flourishes in song.