Portrait of John Adams
Adams and Liberty
Ye sons of Columbia, who bravely have fought
For those rights which unstained from your sires have descended,
May you long taste the blessings your valour has brought
And your sons reap the soil which your fathers defended,
Mid the reign of mild peace
May your nation increase
With the glory of Rome and the wisdom of Greece;
And ne'er may the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.
In a clime whose rich vales feed the marts of the world
Whose shores are unshaken by Europe's commotion
The trident of Commerce should never be hurled,
To incense the legitimate powers of the ocean.
But should pirates invade
Though in thunder arrayed,
Let your cannon declare the free charter of Trade.
For ne'er may the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.
While France her huge limbs bathes recumbent in blood,
And society's base threats with wide dissolution;
May Peace, like the dove who returned from the flood,
Find an ark of abode in our mild Constitution!
But though peace is our aim,
Yet the boon we disclaim
If bought by our Sovereignty, Justice or Fame,
For ne'er may the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.
Let our patriots destroy Anarch's pestilent worm,
Lest our Liberty's growth should be checked by corrosion.
Then let clouds thicken round us, we heed not the storm,
Our realm fears no shock, but the earth's own explosion.
Foes assail us in vain
Though their fleets bridge the main,
For our alters and laws with our lives we'll maintain,
And ne'er may the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.