AWAKE, O world! From thy long sleep arise!

For a new light breaks in reddening skies:

Shake off your rust-eaten fetters, ye slaves!

And claim the Freedom of winds and of waves:

Unwind! O unwind all the swathing clothes

Of bondage and ignorance, nations’ woes:

Break the dark might of enchantment’s spell,

Burst all thy bonds, and the chorus swell!

Kindle on every high hill a clear fire:

Plant in the cities, on tower and spire,

The banner of Freedom! Wide let it wave

Over sea and land, and over the grave

Of buried oppression, and chains decayed

Of tyrant’s power: till the ghosts shall be laid

Of fraud and violence, bloodshed and war:

All wrongs shall be dust and ashes on earth—

Dead leaves from whose death shall spring a new birth

Which shall spread and grow like a fruitful tree,

And under its branches shall live the Free.