Ross Winn

America

America! Once land of liberty
    And of the brave;
Dark tyranny now shackles thee,
No longer now art thou the free,
Thy liberty is dead, and thee—
    Thou art its grave!

America! Thou gem of all the seas
    And light of the earth;
Though ruled by tyrants, yet the lees
Of the proud people—the working bees
Of human hive—bend not their knees
    Nor forget their birth.

America! Thou shalt be free!
Proclaim it from sea to sea!
    The tyrant’s heel
    Shall never feel
Thy soil again, nor know thy clime,
But once again will freedom twine
With live oak, olive and the vine,
    And none shall kneel.