I would be free! I will be free!
What though the world laugh at me?
To me alike are its smiles and its frowns,
I trample in scorn on its riches; and crowns
Are worthless to me as the heads which wear them.
O! how can humanity bear them?
I would be free! I will be free!
Free, though the world laugh at me!
I smile at its jeers and spurn its control,
And ne'er to its fetters shall bend my soul;
Let those who have need of a master wear them,
But never can my spirit bear them.
I would be free! I will be free!
And Truth shall my leader be!
Yea, whither she leads shall my willing feet
Joyfully tread in her footprints; and sweet
Shall her lessons be to my hungering soul!
To my thirsting and hungering soul.
I would be free! I will be free!
Though scorching my pathway be;
I can cheerfully bear the cross, and dare
The lot of my chosen leader to share;
And the cross shall be lighter than air to me,
For Truth shall my guide and helper be!