John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.
Anti-Slavery PoemsAfter the War
To the Thirty-Ninth Congress
O
Likewise the chosen of the Lord,
To do His will and speak His word?
Not man alone hath called ye forth,
But He, the God of all the earth!
He quenches; unto Him belongs
The solemn recompense of wrongs.
And not by cell or gallows-stair
Shall ye the way of God prepare.
Your manhood, bend no suppliant knees,
Nor palter with unworthy pleas.
Of starving men; we shut in vain
Our eyes to Pillow’s ghastly stain.
What tears wash out the stain of death?
What oaths confirm your broken faith?
Of union, freedom, peace, we claim;
We urge no conqueror’s terms of shame.
We bend above our triumphs won
Like David o’er his rebel son.
By one brave, generous action; trust
Your better instincts, and be just!
Take hands from off the negro’s throat,
Give black and white an equal vote.
But give the common law’s redress
To labor’s utter nakedness.
Be in the right as brave and strong
As ye have proved yourselves in wrong.
Your loss the wealth of full amends,
And hate be love, and foes be friends.
Its common slain be mourned, and let
All memories soften to regret.
Her lost and wandering ones recall,
Forgiving and restoring all,—
Above the Capitolian dome,
Stretch hands, and bid ye welcome home!