With power
Noble light and deed
Live we Freedom's creed
The ravages of suppression
Known and heard
So from the heart of Freedom
Came each word
Declarations so marked
To portray
That man free of oppression
Be the chosen way
In Freedom’s light
And with Freedom’s call
Dignity of expression
A right granted all
And if with doubt
A query new
A forum open
For a challenged view
Hold these words
As Freedom’s choice
Let not TRUTH be a silenced voice.
Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York
The marble figures and fountains on either side of the main portico entrance of the New York City Public Library Main Branch, by Frederick MacMonnies, were installed in 1921.
On the right (north) is Truth, a man seated on a Sphinx, the form associated with Wisdom. Above the figure is an inscription from the Apocrypha (1 Esdras, chapter 3):
BUT ABOVE ALL THINGS / TRUTH / BEARETH AWAY / THE VICTORY.
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