I think how our forefathers fought,
  To keep it free from chains,
How they rejoic’d at vict’ry won,
  With loud, triumphal strains. 
My cherish’d old Virginia home,
  Tears, tears come to my eyes,
When thinking on thee, loveliest land,
  Beneath the boundless skies!

TAKE THOSE PLEDGES BACK.

Take back those pledges, dearest maid,
  Which once I warmly gave,
For then I dreamed I would be free,
  And nevermore thy slave. 
Yes! take them back once more, for love
  Hath made me only thine;
And I should give these gems away,
  Whose heart’s no longer mine.

’Tis said the heart can often love,
  But that can never be;
Though I have bow’d at other shrines,
  I never loved but thee. 
I feel that thou art dearer far
  Than aught this world can give,
And come what may, come grief or joy,
  For only thee I live.

Yes! take those pledges back, dear maid,
  And let them fondly speak,
The deathless flame that will not fail,
  In spring, or winter bleak: 
For they have told an honest tale,
  That I shall change no more,
Till I shall clasp thy form again
  On Heaven’s eternal shore.

SONG.—­UNDYING AFFECTION.

I loved thee in my happy youth,
  When I was free from guile,
And I have kept that early truth,
  And wear as fond a smile: 
I’ve look’d to thee, through every storm
  That lower’d upon my way,
Thou say’st my fair and fairy form
  Hath made thy rainbow’s ray.

I loved thee in that early time,
  Life’s best and brightest years;
I gave thee in thy manhood’s prime,
  My changing smiles and tears: 
And now when evening shades come o’er
  The length’ning path of life,
And we must think of love no more,
  I am thy faithful wife.

FREEDOM’S HOME.

O freedom’s home! thy banner streams,
  A meteor on the gale;
And I behold the haughty flags
  Of Europe fade and pale. 
And, crowding on the surging sea,
  They cleave the billows bright;
They come to rest beneath its folds,
  Attracted by its light.

O freedom’s home! forevermore
  We’ll join our hearts and hands,
To make thee bright with peaceful wealth,
  The gem of richest strands: 
But, if a tyrant e’er should threat,
  This Eden of the free,
Dear home of freedom, we will bleed,
  And yield our life for thee.

NATIVE MOUNTAINS.

Native Mountains! on your summits,
  Stream the gleaming floods of day,
While a thousand silver cascades,
  Leap within the early ray;
There amid your flowery valleys,
  Stands the cot of her I love;
Clamb’ring o’er your rocky summits,
  I behold it from above.