Which if man had not, then should God not be:

And that was Liberty.

And gladly should man die to gain, he said,

Freedom; and gladlier, having lost, lie dead.

For man's earth was not, nor the sweet sea-waves

His, nor his own land, nor its very graves,

Except they bred not, bore not, hid not slaves:

[Pg 298]

But all of all that is,

Were one man free in body and soul, were his.

And the song softened, even as heaven by night

Softens, from sunnier down to starrier light,

And with its moonbright breath

Blessed life for death's sake, and for life's sake death.

Till as the moon's own beam and breath confuse

In one clear hueless haze of glimmering hues

The sea's line and the land's line and the sky's,

And light for love of darkness almost dies,

As darkness only lives for light's dear love,

Whose hands the web of night is woven of,

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