Ode To The Germans

by Thomas Campbell

The spirit of Britannia
Invokes, across the main,
Her sister Allemannia
To burst the Tyrant's chain:
By our kindred blood, she cries,
Rise, Allemannians, rise,
And hallow'd thrice the band
Of our kindred hearts shall be,
When your land shall be the land
Of the free -- of the free!

With Freedom's lion-banner
Britannia rules the waves;
Whilst your BROAD STONE OF HONOUR1
Is still the camp of slaves.
For shame, for glory's sake,
Wake, Allemannians, wake,
And thy tyrants now that whelm
Half the world shall quail and flee,
When your realm shall be the realm
Of the free -- of the free!

MARS owes to you his thunder 2
That shakes the battle field,
Yet to break your bonds asunder
No martial bolt has peal'd.
Shall the laurell'd land of art
Wear shackles on her heart?
No! the clock ye framed to tell,
By its sound, the march of time;
Let it clang oppression's knell
O'er your clime -- o'er your clime!

The press's magic letters,
That blessing ye brought forth, --
Behold! it lies in fetters
On the soil that gave it birth:
But the trumpet must be heard,
And the charger must be spurr'd;
For your father Armin's Sprite
Calls down from heaven, that ye
Shall gird you for the fight,
And be free! -- and be free!

1831.

Notes to the poem:

1 Ehrenbreitstein signifies, in German, the broad stone of honour.

1 Germany invented gunpowder, clock-making, and printing.