Page:Sarah Sheppard - L. E. L.pdf/75



4. Can such be rendered up by thee? Does neither guilt nor shame Guilt to redress—shame to efface Shade thy imperial name? Thou who dost ask for wealth and rule Wherever rolls the sea, O! Island Queen, how rests the claim That millions have on thee!

5. And yet what grievous wrong is wrought, Unnoticed and unknown, Until some noble one stands forth, And makes that wrong his own! So stood he forth who first denounced The slave trade's cursed gain; Such call upon the human heart Was never made in vain.

6. For generous impulses and strong Within our nature lie; Pity and love, and sympathy, May sleep, but never die. Thousands, awakened to the sense, Have never since that time Ceased to appeal to God and man Against the work of crime.

7. The meanest hut that ever stood Is yet a human home; Why to a low and humble roof Should the despoiler come. Grant they are ignorant and weak, We were ourselves the same; If they are children, let them have A child's imploring claim.

8. The husband parted from the wife, The mother from the child; Thousands within a single year From land and home exiled.