The pages of thy book I read, And as I closed each one, My heart, responding, ever said, "Servant of God! well done!"Well done! Thy words are great and bold;At times they seem to me, Like Luther's, in the days of old, Half-battles for the free.
Go on, until this land revokes The old and chartered Lie, The feudal curse, whose whips and yokes Insult humanity.
A voice is ever at thy side Speaking in tones of might, Like the prophetic voice, that cried To John in Patmos, "Write!"Write! and tell out this bloody tale;
Record this dire eclipse, This Day of Wrath, this Endless Wail, This dread Apocalypse!
THE SLAVE'S DREAM
Beside the ungathered rice he lay, His sickle in his hand;His breast was bare, his matted hair Was buried in the sand.
Again, in the mist and shadow of sleep, He saw his Native Land.
Wide through the landscape of his dreams The lordly Niger flowed;Beneath the palm-trees on the plain Once more a king he strode;And heard the tinkling caravans Descend the mountain-road.
He saw once more his dark-eyed queen Among her children stand;They clasped his neck, they kissed his cheeks, They held him by the hand!--A tear burst from the sleeper's lids And fell into the sand.
And then at furious speed he rode Along the Niger's bank;His bridle-reins were golden chains, And, with a martial clank, At each leap he could feel his scabbard of steel Smiting his stallion's flank.
Before him, like a blood-red flag, The bright flamingoes flew;From morn till night he followed their flight, O'er plains where the tamarind grew, Till he saw the roofs of Caffre huts, And the ocean rose to view.
At night he heard the lion roar, And the hyena scream, And the river-horse, as he crushed the reeds Beside some hidden stream;And it passed, like a glorious roll of drums, Through the triumph of his dream.
The forests, with their myriad tongues, Shouted of liberty;And the Blast of the Desert cried aloud, With a voice so wild and free, That he started in his sleep and smiled At their tempestuous glee.
He did not feel the driver's whip, Nor the burning heat of day;For Death had illumined the Land of Sleep, And his lifeless body lay A worn-out fetter, that the soul Had broken and thrown away!
THE GOOD PART
THAT SHALL NOT BE TAKEN AWAY
She dwells by Great Kenhawa's side, In valleys green and cool;And all her hope and all her pride Are in the village school.
Her soul, like the transparent air That robes the hills above, Though not of earth, encircles there All things with arms of love.
And thus she walks among her girls With praise and mild rebukes;Subduing e'en rude village churls By her angelic looks.
She reads to them at eventide Of One who came to save;To cast the captive's chains aside And liberate the slave.
And oft the blessed time foretells When all men shall be free;And musical, as silver bells, Their falling chains shall be.
And following her beloved Lord, In decent poverty, She makes her life one sweet record And deed of charity.
For she was rich, and gave up all To break the iron bands Of those who waited in her hall, And labored in her lands.
Long since beyond the Southern Sea Their outbound sails have sped, While she, in meek humility, Now earns her daily bread.
It is their prayers, which never cease, That clothe her with such grace;Their blessing is the light of peace That shines upon her face.
THE SLAVE IN THE DISMAL SWAMP
In dark fens of the Dismal Swamp The hunted Negro lay;He saw the fire of the midnight camp, And heard at times a horse's tramp And a bloodhound's distant bay.
Where will-o'-the-wisps and glow-worms shine, In bulrush and in brake;Where waving mosses shroud the pine, And the cedar grows, and the poisonous vine Is spotted like the snake;Where hardly a human foot could pass, Or a human heart would dare, On the quaking turf of the green morass He crouched in the rank and tangled grass, Like a wild beast in his lair.
A poor old slave, infirm and lame;
Great scars deformed his face;
On his forehead he bore the brand of shame, And the rags, that hid his mangled frame, Were the livery of disgrace.
All things above were bright and fair, All things were glad and free;Lithe squirrels darted here and there, And wild birds filled the echoing air With songs of Liberty!
On him alone was the doom of pain, From the morning of his birth;On him alone the curse of Cain Fell, like a flail on the garnered grain, And struck him to the earth!
THE SLAVE SINGING AT MIDNIGHT
Loud he sang the psalm of David!
He, a Negro and enslaved, Sang of Israel's victory, Sang of Zion, bright and free.
In that hour, when night is calmest, Sang he from the Hebrew Psalmist, In a voice so sweet and clear That I could not choose but hear,Songs of triumph, and ascriptions, Such as reached the swart Egyptians, When upon the Red Sea coast Perished Pharaoh and his host.
And the voice of his devotion Filled my soul with strange emotion;For its tones by turns were glad, Sweetly solemn, wildly sad.
Paul and Silas, in their prison, Sang of Christ, the Lord arisen, And an earthquake's arm of might Broke their dungeon-gates at night.
But, alas! what holy angel Brings the Slave this glad evangel?
And what earthquake's arm of might Breaks his dungeon-gates at night?
THE WITNESSES
In Ocean's wide domains, Half buried in the sands, Lie skeletons in chains, With shackled feet and hands.
Beyond the fall of dews, Deeper than plummet lies, Float ships, with all their crews, No more to sink nor rise.
There the black Slave-ship swims, Freighted with human forms, Whose fettered, fleshless limbs Are not the sport of storms.
These are the bones of Slaves;
They gleam from the abyss;
They cry, from yawning waves, "We are the Witnesses!"Within Earth's wide domains Are markets for men's lives;Their necks are galled with chains, Their wrists are cramped with gyves.
Dead bodies, that the kite In deserts makes its prey;Murders, that with affright Scare school-boys from their play!
All evil thoughts and deeds;
Anger, and lust, and pride;
The foulest, rankest weeds, That choke Life's groaning tide!
These are the woes of Slaves;
