And lives unwithered in its sinewy youth, When he who called it forth is but a name. Therefore I cannot think thee wholly gone; Thou livest in the life of all good things; What words thou spak'st for Freedom shall not die ; Thou sleepest not, for now thy Love hath wings To soar where hence thy Hope could hardly fly. And often, from that other world, on this Some gleams from great souls gone before may shine, To shed on struggling hearts a clearer bliss, And clothe the Right with lustre more divine. Thou art not idle in thy higher sphere And strength, to perfect what it dreamed of here, ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF DR. CHANNING. 209 For sure, in Heaven's wide chambers, there is room To life more vain than this in clayey weeds. From off the starry mountain-peak of song, What wars, what martyrdoms, what crimes, may come, The prodigal soul from want and sorrow home, Farewell! good man, good angel now! this hand Soon, like thine own, shall lose its cunning, too; Soon shall this soul, like thine, bewildered stand, Then leap to thread the free, unfathomed blue : When that day comes, O, may this hand grow cold, O, may this soul, like thine, be ever bold To face dark Slavery's encroaching blight! This laurel-leaf I cast upon thy bier; Let worthier hands than these thy wreath entwine; Upon thy hearse I shed no useless tear, 1842. For me weep rather thou in calm divine! STANZAS SUNG AT THE ANTI-SLAVERY PICNIC IN DEDHAM, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF WEST-INDIA EMANCIPATION, AUGUST 1, 1843. MEN! whose boast it is that ye Women! who shall one day bear If ye hear, without a blush, Deeds to make the roused blood rush Like red lava through your veins, Mothers of the brave and free? Is true Freedom but to break They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak; They are slaves who will not choose Hatred, scoffing, and abuse, Rather than in silence shrink From the truth they needs must think; They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three. |