President Lincoln’s Proclamation of Freedom + 

It shall flash through coming ages; + 

It shall light the distant years; + 

And eyes now dim with sorrow + 

Shall be clearer through their tears. + 

It shall flush the mountain ranges; + 

And the valleys shall grow bright; + 

It shall bathe the hills in radiance, + 

And crown their brows with light. + 

It shall flood with golden splendor + 

All the huts of Caroline, + 

And the sun-kissed brow of labor + 

With lustre new shall shine. + 

It shall gild the gloomy prison, + 

Darken’d by the nation’s crime, + 

Where the dumb and patient millions + 

Wait the better coming time. + 

By the light that gilds their prison, + 

They shall seize its mould’ring key, + 

And the bolts and bars shall vibrate + 

With the triumphs of the free. + 

Like the dim and ancient chaos, + 

Shrinking from the dawn of light. + 

Oppression, grim and hoary, + 

Shall cower at the sight. + 

And her spawn of lies and malice + 

Shall grovel in the dust, + 

While joy shall thrill the bosoms + 

Of the merciful and just. + 

Though the morning seemed to linger + 

O’er the hill-tops far away, + 

Now the shadows bear the promise + 

Of the quickly coming day. + 

Soon the mists and murky shadows + 

Shall be fringed with crimson light, + 

And the glorious dawn of freedom + 

Break refulgent on the sight. + 