By Liberty's dishonored name,
By man's lost hope and failing trust,
By words and deeds which bow with shame
Our foreheads to the dust,
By the exulting strangers' sneer,
Borne to us from the Old World's thrones,
And by their victims' grief who hear,
In sunless mines and dungeons drear,
How Freedom's land her faith disowns!
Speak out in acts. The time for words
Has passed, and deeds suffice alone;
In vain against the clang of swords
The wailing pipe is blown!
Act, act in God's name, while ye may!
Smite from the church her leprous limb!
Throw open to the light of day
The bondman's cell, and break away
The chains the state has bound on him!
Ho! every true and living soul,
To Freedom's perilled altar bear
The Freeman's and the Christian's whole
Tongue, pen, and vote, and prayer!
One last, great battle for the right--
One short, sharp struggle to be free!
To do is to succeed--our fight
Is waged in Heaven's approving sight;
The smile of God is Victory.
1844.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ANTI-SLAVERY POEMS I. ***
By John Greenleaf Whittier
***** This file should be named wit1610.txt or wit1610.zip ******
Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, wit1611.txt
VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, wit1610a.txt
This eBook was produced by David Widger [widger@cecomet.net]
Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
unless a copyright notice is included.
Pages:
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61