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Monarch of the realms supernal,
Ranger of the land and the sea,
Symbol of the Grand Republic,
Who so noble and so free?
Thine the boundless fields of ether,
Heaven’s unfathom’d depths are thing;
Far beyond our human vision,
Or thy vans the sunbeams shine.
Borne on iron-nerved pinion,
Forth from Pole to Pole you sweep,
O’er see-islands, craggy mountains,
O’er the blue trackless deep.
Now thy winnowing plumes o’ershadow
Northern cliff and iceberg grim,
Now o’er Southern, soft savanna,
Thy unflagging pinions skim.
Him who feeds the hungry raven
And the sea-bird of the rock
Tempers the inclement breezes
To the shorn and bleating flock ---
Leads thee o’er the waste of ocean,
Guides o’er savage wild and wood,
And from nature’s bounteous storehouse
Feeds thy callow, clamorous brood.
O’er the mountains of Caucasus,
Over Apennine and Alp,
Over Rocky Mounts, Cordilleras,
O’er the Andes’ herbless scalp;
Far above their snowy summits,
Where no living thing abides,
He that notes the falling sparrows
Leads thee, watches thee, and guides.
Thou wingest where a tropic sky
Bendeth its celestial dome,
Where sparkling waters greet the eye,
And gentlest breezes fan the foam;
Where spicy breath from groves of palm,
Laden with aromatic balm,
Blows ever, mingled with perfume
Of golden fruit honey’d bloom.
Green shores adorn’d with tropic wood,
Gay grottoes, island solitudes;
Savannas where palmettos screen
The Indian’s hut with living green;
A land like visionary dreams,
Delicious with its groves and streams, ---
Realms such as these behold thy sweep,
Careering in the upper deep.
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