Therefore do thou at least arise and warn, Not folded in thy mantle, a blind seer, But naked in thy anger, and new-born, As in the hour when thy voice sounded clear To the world's slaves, and tyrants quaked for fear. Thou hadst a message then, a word of scorn, First for thyself, thy own crimes' challenger, And next for those who withered in thy dawn. An hundred years have passed since that fair day, And still the world cries loud, in its desire, That right is wronged, and force alone has sway. What profit are they, thy guns' tongues of fire? Nay, leave to England her sad creed of gold; Plead thou Man's rights, clean-handed as of old. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE RAGGEDY MAN by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY PRAYER AFTER YOUTH by MAXWELL ANDERSON TO THE MARQUIS LA FAYETTE by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD THE DANCE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING NOON; FROM AN UNFINISHED POEM by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE WANDERER: 5. IN HOLLAND: TO THE QUEEN OF SERPENTS by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |