43
By all above—around—below—
Be ours th' indignant answer—NO!
No—guided by our country's laws,
For truth and right, and suffering man,
Be ours to strive in Freedom's cause,
As Christians may—as freemen can!
Still pouring on unwilling ears
That truth oppression only fears.
What! shall we guard our neighbor still,
While woman shrieks beneath his rod,
And while he tramples down at will
The image of a common God!
Shall watch and ward be round him set,
Of northern nerve and bayonet?
And shall we know and share with him,
The danger and the open shame?
And see our Freedom's light grow dim,
Which should have filled the world with flame?
And, writhing, feel where'er we turn,
A world's reproach around us burn?
Is 't not enough that this is borne?
And asks our haughty neighbor more?
Must fetters which his slaves have worn,
Clank round the Yankee farmer's door?
Must he be told, beside his plough,
What he must speak, and when, and how?
