Whoe’er for freedom fights and falls, his fame no blight shall know, As long as through heaven’s free expanse the breezes freely blow, As long as in the forest wild the green leaves flutter free, As long as rivers, mountain-born, roll freely to the sea, As long as free the eagle’s wing exulting cleaves the skies, As long as from a freeman’s heart a freeman’s breath doth rise. Whoe’er for freedom fights and falls, his fame no blight shall know, As long as spirits of the free through earth and air shall go; Through earth and air a spirit-band of heroes moves always, ’Tis near us at the dead of night, and in the noontide’s blaze, In the storm that levels towering pines, and in the breeze that waves With low and gentle breath the grass upon our fathers’ graves. There’s not a cradle in the bounds of Hellas broad and fair, But the spirit of our free-born sires is surely hovering there. It breathes in dreams of fairy-land upon the infant’s brain, And in his first sleep dedicates the child to manhood’s pain; Its summons lures the youth to stand, with new-born joy possessed, Where once a freeman fell, and there it fires his thrilling breast, And a shudder runs through all his frame; he knows not if it be A throb of rapture, or the first sharp pang of agony. Come, swell our banners on the breeze, thou sacred spirit-band, Give wings to every warrior’s foot, and nerve to every hand. We go to strike for freedom, to break the oppressor’s rod, We go to battle and to death for our country and our God. Ye are with us, we hear your wings, we hear in magic tone Your spirit-voice the pæan swell, and mingle with our own. Ye are with us, ye throng around,—you from Thermopylæ, You from the verdant Marathon, you from the azure sea, By the cloud-capped rocks of Mykale, at Salamis,—all you From field and forest, mount and glen, the land of Hellas through! Whoe’er for freedom fights and falls, his fame no blight shall know, As long as through heaven’s free expanse the breezes freely blow, As long as in the forest wild the green leaves flutter free, As long as rivers, mountain-born, roll freely to the sea, As long as free the eagle’s wing exulting cleaves the skies, As long as from a freeman’s heart a freeman’s breath doth rise.