for emancipation day

[fledgist]

no count of years may still the hand of fate

but yet the kindly sunrise eases pain

as those who fought arise to fight again

with little rancour and without debate

for once removed the horrors cease to grate

on any soul and there’s no longer strain

when each of us can see the future plain

and know that we’re the owners of the state

this is the promise made by those who sleep

beneath our soil whose lives gave ours full worth

that a bright morning would our people see

not as a flock of tired and hungry sheep

but as a folk in fullest time of mirth

enjoying every taste of liberty