Poem by Anonymous

We May, We Will, We Must, We Shall Be Free

We may be free! ’tis ours the mighty power 
	To speak in tones both terrible and loud,
Nor will we crouching and obsequious lower 
	To worship baubles and adore the proud;
The titled tyrants, who, with plunder’d might
Have thrones erected on the grave of right.

Ah! no; we seek for freedom, and our claim 
	Is bas’d upon our birth. Our native land!
The land of glory and of butchering fame 
	We seek to rescue from the bloody brand
With which proud conquerors have its name begor’d,
Those meek vicegerents of a righteous Lord!

We will be free! applauding reason smiles 
	Her simple acquiescence; and the just,
The patriot noble, need no courtier’s wiles 
	To shroud the truth within a hideous crust
Of black perversion; such as priests and knaves 
Have used to model and to mould us slaves.

We must be free! for all the varied springs
	Of dark oppression, now would seem to lose
Their potency; as on her bliss-imparting wings
	True knowledge soars abroad, disturbing the repose
Of ancient error, and diffusing light
Where nought existed but the gloom of night.

We shall be free! aloud the truth proclaim,
	From east to west let freedom’s name be heard;
Let tyrants hear it! that her virtuous fame
    	Will shine unsullied, though they would retard
With puny effort her majestic sway,
A nation wills it and who dare gainsay?

Then hark! O countrymen! awake ye dead!
	Ye who have slept in apathy profound, 
Arise! arise! by freedom’s pole star led,
	March nobly onward till with success crown’d 
You reap the comforts which your deeds have gain’d, 
And cease to struggle as do slaves enchain’d.

                                                M.K.

1. Gathering of Atholl
2. The Banks o’ Glaizart
3. Fare Ye Weel, My Auld Wife
4. The Aisle of Tombs
5. Sir Richard Whittington’s Advancement

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