The Lay of Gratitude Author:Daniel Bryan Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: POETICAL ADDRESS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEff RECITED GENERAL LAFAYETTE On the 19th October, 1824. IN the name of our country, great Hero! we come To welc... more »ome thee here on this day of thy glory ; And we hail thee with music of cannon and drum, On these plains once with battle disfigured and gory; "Where the flame of thy sword, and the flash of thy eye, Victory's path through the clouds of the conflict illumed, When Liberty's banner, displayed in the sky, Proclaimed that her foe to discomfit was doomed. Thy presence, like that of some guest from above Descended to minister blessings on earth, Enkindles the fervours of reverence and love Wherever the patriot emotions have birth ; But, here, on this glorious arena of Fame, Too feeble is language—our voices too faint— The transports that gush through our breasts to proclaim ; No muse can depict them—no pencil can paint.— When the tempest of Tyranny hung on our shore, And the peals of its vengeance our continent shook; When the white robes of Freedom were dripping with gore, And she drooped as though Hope had her bosom forsook— Thy gallant young heart, with an ardour divine, A devotion as pure as e'er hallowed the soul, Vowed to yield the last throb of its pulse at her shrine, Or see her the standard of triumph unrol.— Columbia! behold here the champion whose vow, Thus solemnly made, on this spot was fulfilled! Here, a branch of that laurel still green on his brow He plucked, where the blood of the foeman was spilled. No bankrupt in character, fortune, or friends— No ambitious, or venal, adventurer was he; No pang of affliction the heart strings that rends, Forced him o'er the wide billows for solace to flee. With the golden dominion of wealth at command, And arrayed in...« less