"O Talk Not to Me of Fair Italy’s Sky" (2 Mar 1846)
Taken by Permission From the Poems of
AMELIA
Music Composed and Respectfully Dedicated to
Miss Mary Ann Andrews
by
Bernard Covert.

Boston: Oliver Ditson, 125 Washington St.
Plate No. 1095
[Source: 1846-410200@LoC;
No. 53; Deposited March 2, 1846,
Recorded  Vol. 21, Page 91]

1. O talk not to me of fair Italy’s sky, 
Of the soft perfum’d gales that through Araby sigh, 
I know there is not on this wide spreading earth 
A land bright and free as the land of my birth.
We have our mild zephyrs and bright sunny beams, 
Our fruits and our flowers fair valleys and streams, 
Thy rocks and thy mountains are loftty and grand 
And brave are thy children, my own native land.

2. If cowards and tyrants e’er seek to enchain
And bring to the dust our proud spirits again,
Thy sons still united will rally for thee
And die as they’ve lived the exalted and free.
O had I the strength of my heart in my hand,
I’d fight for thy freedom, my own native land,
Amid thy oppressors, undaunted I’d fly
And fling forth our banner in triumph on high.