The Proclamation
“ I order and declare that all persons held as slaves in the said designated States and parts of States are and hereafter shall be free, .... and I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence.”
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
SAINT PATRICK, slave to Milcho of the herds
Of Ballymena, sleeping, heard these words:
“ Arise, and flee
Out from the land of bondage, and be free ! ”
Of Ballymena, sleeping, heard these words:
“ Arise, and flee
Out from the land of bondage, and be free ! ”
Glad as a soul in pain, who hears from heaven
The angels singing of his sins forgiven,
And, wondering, sees
His prison opening to their golden keys,
The angels singing of his sins forgiven,
And, wondering, sees
His prison opening to their golden keys,
He rose a man who laid him down a slave,
Shook from his locks the ashes of the grave,
And outward trod
Into the glorious liberty of God.
Shook from his locks the ashes of the grave,
And outward trod
Into the glorious liberty of God.
He cast the symbols of his shame away ;
And passing where the sleeping Milcho lay,
Though back and limb
Smarted with wrong, he prayed, “ God pardon him !”
And passing where the sleeping Milcho lay,
Though back and limb
Smarted with wrong, he prayed, “ God pardon him !”
So went he forth : but in God’s time he came
To light on Uilliue’s hills a holy flame ; And, dying, gave
The land a saint that lost him as a slave.
To light on Uilliue’s hills a holy flame ; And, dying, gave
The land a saint that lost him as a slave.
O dark, sad millions, patiently and dumb
Watting for God, your hour, at last, has come,
And freedom’s song
Breaks the long silence of your night of wrong!
Watting for God, your hour, at last, has come,
And freedom’s song
Breaks the long silence of your night of wrong!
Arise and flee ! shake off the vile restraint
Of ages ! but, like Ballymena’s saint,
The oppressor spare,
Heap only on his head the coals of prayer !
Of ages ! but, like Ballymena’s saint,
The oppressor spare,
Heap only on his head the coals of prayer !
Go forth, like him ! like him, return again,
To bless the land whereon in bitter pain
Ye toiled at first,
And heal with freedom what your slavery cursed!
To bless the land whereon in bitter pain
Ye toiled at first,
And heal with freedom what your slavery cursed!