Poems (Hoffman)/The Patriot Abroad

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

THE PATRIOT ABROAD

He stood in a foreign port
 In the midst of the clamoring din
Straining his eyes o'er the peaceful waves,
 Watching the ships come in.

There were French and Italian frigates
 And British men-of-war
And flags of all nationalities
 Streaming their colors afar;

But one of the many caught his eye
 And raised his eager hand
To wave his hat in welcome,
 'Twas the flag of his native land.

It flung on the Orient zephyrs
 Freedom's prophetic types
While India's sunbeams sported
 In Columbia's stars and stripes,

And it spake to the lonely traveler
 Of his home across the main
Where it waved in majestic beauty
 O'er the freedman's sundered chain.

What wonder he greeted its coming
 With a glad and grateful heart,
It seemed of his country,—an emblem,
 Of his cherished home,—a part.

Like a star from his native heaven
 Or a message from some loved name,
Or a flower plucked from his garden
 On the wings of a dove it came.

Float on, loved flag of Freedom
 O'er many a foreign sea
And wake in the hearts of thousands
 The echoes of liberty!