INDEPENDENCE.

Let Fortune frown and foes increase,
And Life’s long battle know no peace;
Give me to wear upon my breast
The object of my early quest—
Undimm’d, unbroken, and unchang’d,

The talisman I sought and gain’d—
                             The jewel, Independence!

It feeds with fire my flagging heart
To act by all a fearless part;
It irrigates like summer rain

The thirsty furrows of my brain;
Through years and cares my sun and star,
A present help—a hope afar—
                             The jewel, Independence!

Rob me of all the joys of sense,

Curse me with all but impotence;
Fling me upon an ocean oar,
Cast me upon a savage shore;
Slay me! but own above my bier:
“The man now gone, still held while here,