Russia

WHAT sudden voice peals to the Caucasus,

To Finland and the bitter Caspian,

To those Siberian prisons whither man

Shall seek as to a shrine, that mutinous,

Divine word Liberty? Impetuous

She rises, Holy Russia, shakes the ban

From her stooped shoulders of colossal span,

A youth in diamond mail, miraculous.

Is this the foretaste of a harvest worth

All agony of its encrimsoned sod?

Are dreams come true? Does this wild roar of wars,

That wellnigh breaks the shuddering heart of earth,

Sound in the hearing of the far-off stars

A golden voice of Freedom, voice of God?