[13]
Come I welcome Freedom's new-born day,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Come! fling thy manacles away,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Call Wickliffe home to fast and pray,
Stop Powell's mouth while yet you may,
Invoke the shade of Henry Clay,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Thy fame is bright, thy limbs are strong,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Come! for thy lagging does thee wrong,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Join heart and hand the martyr throng,
Whom love of country bears along,
And give new heroes to thy song,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Prepare to break the negro's chain,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Shall West-Virginia call in vain?
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Her eagles scream from hill to plain--
“Liberty” is the fierce refrain,
It baffles traitors back amain,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
The Union's wounds shall heal again,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
I see the blush upon thy cheek,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Though thou wast never over-meek;
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Ah! hear! there cometh forth a shriek,
From hill to hill, from creek to creek,
Missouri calls on thee to speak,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Proud Labor should not pay a toll,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
No slave should crook to thy control,
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Write Lincoln's fame upon thy scroll,
Better emancipate the whole,
Than crucify one negro's soul!
Kentucky!
O Kentucky!
Methinks I hear a distant hum,
Kentucky!
Ah! Kentucky!
It is the Union fife and drum,
Kentucky!
Ah! Kentucky!
She speaks herself, and treason's dumb,
Her brain and heart no longer numb,
She feels at last, and now she'll come!
Kentucky!
Our Kentucky!
Washington city, D. C., January 1, 1863.
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Van Nostrand. New York, New York. 1862.
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