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Florian's Song

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My soul, it shall not take us,         O we will escape         This world that strives to break us         And cast us to its shape;         Its chisel shall not enter,         Its fire shall not touch,         Hard from rim to centre,         We will not crack or smutch.         'Gainst words sweet and flowered         We have an amulet,         We will not play the coward         For any black threat;         If we but give endurance         To what is now within,         The single assurance         That it is good to win.         Slaves think it better         To be weak than strong,         Whose hate is a fetter         And their love a thong.         But we will view those others         With eyes like stone,         And if we have no brothers         We will walk alone.

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"My soul, it shall not take us,..."

"Florian's Song" is a quintessential example of John Collings Squire, Sir's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

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