Page:Poems written during the progress of the abolition question in the United States.djvu/47

 Shall our own glorious land retain That curse which Europe scorns to bear? Shall our own brethren drag the chain Which not even Russia's menials wear? Up, then, in Freedom's manly part, From gray-beard eld to fiery youth, And on the nation's naked heart, Scatter the living coals of Truth! Up—while ye slumber, deeper yet The shadow of our fame is growing! Up—while ye pause, our sun may set In blood, around our altars flowing! Oh rouse ye—ere the storm comes forth— The gathered wrath of God and man— Like that which wasted Egypt's earth, When hail and fire above it rain. Hear ye no warnings in the air? Feel ye no earthquake underneath? Up—up—why will ye slumber where The sleeper only wakes in death? Up now for Freedom!—not in strife Like that your sterner fathers saw— The awful waste of human life— The glory and the guilt of war: But break the chain—the yoke remove— And smite to earth Oppression's rod, With those mild arms of Truth and Love, Made mighty through the living God!