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Composed in 1884 by Sarah Ann Nelson Thomas Shimm for her "Toussaint Sofa" When Albion from her island cliffs The air with "Hampden" rends And France with drooping flour-de-lis Bewails the Orleans maid When Italy wafts through cloudless skies Her Garibaldi's name And Austria tells from ramparts high Of Louis Kosuth's fame When Scotch sigh o'er Wallace's grave And Freedom weep the martyred brave When patriot lands for country's sake From Emmet's tomb the shamrocks break When o'er the fanes of other lands The stored radiance shines We turn to thee o sun kissed isle And on thy peaks see Freedom smile And Hayti sea-girt ocean gem 'Twas Toussaint won thy diadem! Sarah Ann Nelson Thomas Shimm (1854-1885) was a black female who wrote articles for an early Washington D.C. newspaper under the name Faith Lichen because newspapers would not published material written by a black person. Mrs. Shimm composed the above poem to accompany her sofa which was upholstered with a tapestry which she embroidered with scenes from the life of Toussaint L'Ouverture and displayed at the New Orleans World's Fair in 1884. The poem is from the collection of Dr. Charlene Byrd, Mrs. Shimm's great grand-daughter. [[copyright symbol]] Dr. Charlene Byrd, Nitro, West Virginia