Poems on Slavery

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!