Stanzas on Freedom

Is true Freedom but to break

Fetters for our own dear sake,

And, with leathern hearts, forget

That we owe mankind a debt?

No! true Freedom is to share

All the chains our brothers wear,

And, with heart and hand, to be

Earnest to make others free!

They are slaves who fear to speak

For the fallen and the weak;

They are slaves who will not choose

Hatred, scoffing, and abuse,

Rather than in silence shrink

From the truth they needs must think:

They are slaves who dare not be

In the right with two or three.