The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1922-06-01
THE DAY OF PERFECT FREEDOM

Day dawns when serve shall have his own
The world has grown much in latter years,
And men have the vision and the CLEAN
OF perfect Freedoms fair and perfect day
That time cannot be recreant and mar
The promises shall fulfilled.
o blessed day, thrice blest upon the earth
That brings this hope to tong of menl
Fair be the morning, glorious the noon
And perfect be the restful eventide
When toilng hands shall toll in Freedoms light,
When shacked minds shall claim their right know,
When brided tongues shall speak aloud the TRUTH
When trembling hearts that long have felt the pain
OF bitter anguish from the oppressor's rod
Shall thrill with liberty; when Bonded forms
Shall stand erect before the morning
And say to all the world, "Im Freedoms child"
Rejoice we mothers with your ceaseless cares
Shout loud, We slaves upon your beds of hay,
And We whose backs bent with heavy loads
Imposed by others hands for private gain
Cast off your burdens and lift up your eyes
For this is Freedoms happy morning time!
And o thou sad and long neglected child,
The progeny Of poverty and VICE.
Whose wall is heard through all the land,
Take heart, thou little one, the skies will clear
And life and love will come to thee again.
No longer must thou seek companionshp
Among the graves where thy companions lie,
Or in the novels foul and chilling air,
But thou King! and unto thee bow,
And for thy veal fashion all laws.
We maryred lips that would not dare recant
And sufferers in the dungeons stygan mire
AID we who barred your breast beside the stake,
Take heart anew; the times have changed since then
Rejoice, rejoice, with angels in the skies,
Your vindcatedl We did stand
For truth and liberty in evil days;
The superstitions of a morbid age
With inquisition foul and damnable
Quenched every flame where freedoms affairs burned
And rent her prophets with its bloody fangs.
But thou Spirit of Eternal Hope
Couldst be killed though flesh burned away,
But and through all the years
Blazed forth to steer to the happy cline
Where all shall worship thee and shall fail.
The day has come at last, the joyous day
When all who struggle shall behold the gleam
When all who oppressed shall the light,
When yearnng hearts that swell with Freedoms blood
Shall feel the puse-beat of a world freel
Democracy, Democracy shall win
And battlements of tyranny shall fall
To be replaced by happy homes of men.
The day has come and shall forever be
When think the truth and speak the truth
Whatever be its kind origin
And have fear of heartess martyrdom
Or bigotry that seeks to plant a creed
And weld mems minds to dogma and decay
For truth shall live and shall forever stand
In spite of stakes and thongs and prison bars,
For all the cunning craft Of clouded brain
And ignorance and bigotry and hell
Cannot destroy shadow of the Truth
Which God has given mortal know
This age have ceasng Men must live
And truth must ever hold its sceptered sway
And toing hands must evermore be free!
Give us the leaders, We sons of light
Give the leaders who point the way!
Brave and strong who know the human heart,
Kind and good who would do a wrong
True and pure who not in Storm
Tall of royal mold and royal faith
Whose creed is service to their fellow men.
Whose lives offered up to Freedoms God!
So then shall Liberty o'erspread the earth,
And shall see the radiance of her smile,
And every foot shall tread upon the road
That leadeth onward o the perfect day.
John F. Smith