Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform, Complete

TO WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON

     CHAMPION of those who groan beneath
     Oppression's iron hand
     In view of penury, hate, and death,
     I see thee fearless stand.
     Still bearing up thy lofty brow,
     In the steadfast strength of truth,
     In manhood sealing well the vow
     And promise of thy youth.

     Go on, for thou hast chosen well;
     On in the strength of God!
     Long as one human heart shall swell
     Beneath the tyrant's rod.
     Speak in a slumbering nation's ear,
     As thou hast ever spoken,
     Until the dead in sin shall hear,
     The fetter's link be broken!

     I love thee with a brother's love,
     I feel my pulses thrill,
     To mark thy spirit soar above
     The cloud of human ill.
     My heart hath leaped to answer thine,
     And echo back thy words,
     As leaps the warrior's at the shine
     And flash of kindred swords!

     They tell me thou art rash and vain,
     A searcher after fame;
     That thou art striving but to gain
     A long-enduring name;
     That thou hast nerved the Afric's hand
     And steeled the Afric's heart,
     To shake aloft his vengeful brand,
     And rend his chain apart.

     Have I not known thee well, and read
     Thy mighty purpose long?
     And watched the trials which have made
     Thy human spirit strong?
     And shall the slanderer's demon breath
     Avail with one like me,
     To dim the sunshine of my faith
     And earnest trust in thee?

     Go on, the dagger's point may glare
     Amid thy pathway's gloom;
     The fate which sternly threatens there
     Is glorious martyrdom
     Then onward with a martyr's zeal;
     And wait thy sure reward
     When man to man no more shall kneel,
     And God alone be Lord!

     1832.