Rhapsody Unshackled (Revised)

Few have heard the distant
ecstatic melody:

The slaves heard it
as their pursuers closed in on them,

The political prisoner heard it
as he lay dying in his filthy cell,

Holocaust victims heard it
as they listened to the hiss of gas,

The kidnapped hostage heard it
as the blade touched his neck.

First faint notes,
then a rumbling deep in the earth.

A joyous song
rises like a cloud in the air,

Finally, a promise thunders
in the soul,

There is no death,
You shall be free!