De Lord dat heap de Red-Sea waves He say de word: we las' night slaves; De yam will grow, de cotton blow, O nebber you fear, if nebber you hear. Ole massa on he trabbels gone; He leaf de land behind: De Lord's breff blow him furder on, But nebber chile be sold. De yam will grow, de cotton blow, O nebber you fear, if nebber you hear We pray de Lord: he gib us signs De Norf-wind tell it to de pines, De wild-duck to de sea; We tink it when de church-bell ring, We dream it in de dream; De rice-bird mean it when he sing, De eagle when he scream. De yam will grow, de cotton blow, O nebber you fear, if nebber you hear We know de promise nebber fail, An' nebber lie de word; So like de 'postles in de jail, An' now he open ebery door, An' trow away de key; He tink we lub him so before, We lub him better free. De yam will grow, de cotton blow, O nebber you fear, if nebber you hear So sing our dusky gondoliers; And, with a secret pain, And smiles that seem akin to tears, We dare not share the negro's trust, We only know that God is just, Rude seems the song; each swarthy face, We start to think that hapless race That laws of changeless justice bind Sing on, poor hearts! your chant shall be Our sign of blight or bloom, The Vala-song of Liberty, Or death-rune of our doom! - S ICHABOD! O fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn The glory from his gray hairs gone Forevermore! And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath, O, dumb be passion's stormy rage, Have lighted up and led his age Scorn! would the angels laugh, to mark Let not the land, once proud of him, Nor brand with deeper shame his dim, But let its humbled sons, instead, A long lament, as for the dead, Of all we loved and honored, naught A fallen angel's pride of thought, Still strong in chains. All else is gone; from those great eyes When faith is lost, when honor dies, Then, pay the reverence of old days Walk backward, with averted gaze, TH OUR STATE. HE South-land boasts its teeming cane, The prairied West its heavy grain, And sunset's radiant gates unfold. On rising marts and sands of gold! Rough, bleak and hard, our little State From Autumn frost to April rain, Yet, on her rocks, and on her sands, And wintry hills, the school-house stands, The riches of the commonwealth Are free, strong minds, and hearts of health; And more to her than gold or grain, The cunning hand and cultured brain. For well she keeps her ancient stock, Nor heeds the sceptic's puny hands, While near her school the church-spire stands; Nor fears the blinded bigot's rule, While near her church-spire stands the school! STANZAS FOR THE TIMES. ΤΗ 1850. HE evil days have come, Bar up the hospitable door, the poor Put out the fire-lights, point no more For Pity now is crime; the chain Is melted at her hearth in twain, Our Union, like a glacier stirred Or bell of kine, or wing of bird, Poor, whispering tremblers! Our blood and name; yet we boast Bursting its century-bolted frost, Each gray cairn on the Northman's coast |