Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PATRIOT'S LAMENT, by JOSEPH CEPHAS HOLLY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PATRIOT'S LAMENT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, weep for columbia! Oh, weep for the time!
Last Line: And forever the glorious, and happy to reign.
Subject(s): Patriotism; United States; America


Oh, weep for Columbia! oh, weep for the time!
When slavery dark, and degrading crime,
First poluted thy shores, oh glorious nation!
In spite of thy great, and thy true declaration,
Which proclaims that all men are both equal and free,
Whether rich and exalted, or humble they be,
And this is endowed by the mighty creator --
The King of the world, and the great legislator.
Bewildered Columbia! I weep for thy fate,
For the years thou hast borne thy inglorious weight;
But the cloud of thy burden is passing away,
'Fore Appollo refulgent, the bright star of day.
Shall Maryland, where the brave Donaldson fell,
Be cursed by this foul scourge of hell?
Shall the land of our WASHINGTON, the glorious, and brave,
Be disgraced by the fettered feet of the slave?
Shall Carolina, the birth place of New Orleans' hero,
Stern JACKSON the sage, the American Nero,
Be a land for despots, and tyrants to meet,
And be trod by bondmen's inglorious feet?
Shall Georgia, where brave Green our rights did maintain,
Bear the disgrace, the niggardly stain,
Of a cruel, and treacherous barbarous knavery,
Of a base, and a brutal, and degraded slavery?
Shall men, women and children, by freemen be bought,
In Louisiana, where the brave Jackson fought,
In market under auctioneer's hammers be sold
For ungrateful tyrant's ill-gotten gold?
Columbia, awake! from thy lethargic sleep,
No more let thy desolate children weep!
No more let cruel tyrants angry eyes flash!
Whilst human flesh quake under the torturing lash.
No more let female shrieks impart!
Anguishing arrows to the christian heart;
No more tare asunder the husband and wife!
Who have vowed to each other as long as lasts life.
No more from fond parents their children separate!
Entirely ignorant of each others fate;
No more let freemen for slavery's curse moan!
But throw off the yoke, and as christians atone.
Then I'll hail the Columbia, the happy and free!
"The home of the brave," and pray so let it be;
Wipe out the deep blot of thy foul degradation!
And prove to the world that thou art a free nation.
Then no more wilt thou be the foot-stool of the slave,
But the "land of the free and the home of the brave!"
Thy genius commands thee to wipe out the stain,
And forever the glorious, and happy to reign.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net