Page:Negro poets and their poems (IA negropoetstheirp00kerl).pdf/56

34 His manhood, wrapped in rayless gloom, At thy approach throws off its pall, And rising up, as from the tomb, Stands forth defiant of the thrall. No tyrant’s power can crush the soul Illumed by thine inspiring ray; The fiendishness of base control Flies thy approach as night from day. Ride onward, in thy chariot ride, Thou peerless queen; ride on, ride on— With Truth and Justice by thy side— From pole to pole, from sun to sun! Nor linger in our bleeding South, Nor domicile with race or clan; But in thy glorious goings forth, Be thy benignant object Man— Of every clime, of every hue, Of every tongue, of every race, ’Neath heaven’s broad, ethereal blue; Oh! let thy radiant smiles embrace, Till neither slave nor one oppressed Remain throughout creation’s span, By thee unpitied and unblest Of all the progeny of man. We fain would have the world aspire To that proud height of free desire, That flamed the heart of Switzer’s Tell (Whose archery skill none could excell), When once upon his Alpine brow, He stood reclining on his bow, And saw, careering in his might— In all his majesty of flight—