There was a tableau! Liberty’s clear light + 

Shone never on a braver scene than that. + 

Here was a prison, there a Man who sat + 

High in the Halls of state! Beyond, the might + 

Of ignorance and Mobs, whose hireling press + 

Yells at their bidding like the slaver’s hounds, + 

Ready with coarse caprice to curse or bless, + 

To make or unmake rulers!⁠—Lo, there sounds + 

A grating of the doors! And three poor men, + 

Helpless and hated, having naught to give, + 

Come from their long-sealed tomb, look up, and live, + 

And thank this Man that they are free again. + 

And He⁠—to all the world this Man dares say, + 

“Curse as you will! I have been just this day.” + 