’Tis, alas! the fearful shadow,
Of contention and of vengeance;
’Tis the strife of human passion,
In the hapless land of freedom;
’Tis the clash of angry foemen,
Steel to steel in fierce encounter;
’Tis the symbol of a struggle,
In the brave, aspiring nation.
Not the tramp of foreign armies,
On the soil we bought with bloodshed,