AN EMIGRANT'S DREAM OF THE FUTURE.

Freethought Review, Volume I, Issue 12, 1 September 1884, Page 8

AN EMIGRANT'S DREAM OF THE FUTURE.

Adieu to the land in slavery bound, Where thousands must toil in despair. Here ! here in the South a new home we have found, Where Freedom her banner shall rear. Here the soil we will till, and the fruits of the earth Abundance to us shall supply. Here, nor idle, nor wealthy shall boast of their birth Nor shall toilers, in misery die. But when thy own banner shall wave o'er the sea, They shall call the Australias the land of the free. Although I have left the green Isle of the North, The love of my kindred my bosom still fires. Its tyrany’s power has driven me forth From the home of my first love, the graves of my sires. Thou birth-place of Science ! Thou land of the brave ! Now hood-winked by priest-crafts, and blotted with crime, Thy children are flying afar o’er the wave, To build them a home in a happier clime, A home that in future shall glorious be, Australia Felix, the land of the free. The soul of the poet looks afar through the mist That hangs o'er the vista of time. Hail spirit prophetic ! he feels himself blest When cheered by such visions sublime. He sees future vineyards their clusters display, And the golden-eared corn in the vale, He marks future Navies, in peaceful array, Spread their sails to the favouring gale. Australia ! All this he dreams of for thee, Future home of the Artizan, Land of the Free. C. J. R. August 15th, 1850.