Friend of the dusky visage, whereupon When all things else have yielded to the light Abides the cleaving shadow of a night The darker for the noonday's fiercer sun; Among earth's kindred nations nearer none Than thine and mine. Thou standest in the fight, A slave beside a master for whose right Thine arm, with his uplifted, lost or won. Nay, now the victor vanquished, when the foe Exulting in a land of bondage free, Flung out the signal, "Smite the smiter!" lo, Thou wouldst not; but with new-wed Liberty Wentest thy way -- nor yet as glad to go, But oft in tears that all the world might see. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MAN CHILD IS BORN (1839) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE WELCOME by THOMAS OSBORNE DAVIS AT THE CANNON'S MOUTH by HERMAN MELVILLE THE WITCH IN THE GLASS by SARAH MORGAN BRYAN PIATT THE HOUSE OF LIFE: JENNY by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI DISARMAMENT by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER WHEN I WAS YOUNG by IRMA TIBBETTS ANDREWS |