Since men of honor sink in slime,
Since the scepter is held by crime,
Since rights have all been wronged away,
Since all the proud lie beaten down
And on streetposts through every town
My country's shame is on display;
Republic of our Fathers' right,
Gold dome, great pantheon of light
Under the free and open blue,
Oh temple of immortal shades!
Since now the step-ladder brigades
Paste empire to your walls with glue,
Since hearts are beaten to the core
Since we all crawl, since we ignore
The right, the true, the great, the brave,
The eyes of history in fury,
The law, all honor and all glory
And those now gone into the grave;
Exile and anguish!....I love them.
Let sorrow be my diadem.
I love my prideful poverty!
I love the door lashed by the gale
I love the statue, grave and pale,
Of Mourning seated next to me.
I love the hardships I endure,
That darkness where I find once more
All that delights and bids me live:
Veiled virtue, truth, faith, dignity,
Freedom the dauntless deportee,
And loyalty the fugitive.
I love this isle out on the deeps,
Good Jersey which free England keeps
Behind her banner's ancient shield,
Dark waters high and higher now,
The vessel - a meandering plow,
The billows - a mysterious field.
I love the gull, O sea, that swirls
Your waters' wavelets up in pearls
Upon its wildly colored wings,
Dives down into the monstrous surges
And from their gaping jaws emerges,
As does the soul from sufferings.
I love this solemn height of stone
Where I hear the eternal moan,
Relentless as a deep regret,
Born and reborn in the dark air,
Of waves over bleak reefs out there,
Of mothers over children dead.