The North Star (Rochester)/1847/12/03/The Fugitive Slave's Apostrophe to the North Star
THE FUGITIVE SLAVE'S APOSTROPHE TO THE NORTH STAR.
Star of the North! though night winds drift
The fleecy drapery of the sky,
Between thy lamp and me, I lift,
Yea, lift with hope my sleepless eye,
To the blue brights wherein thou dwell'st,
And of the land of freedom tell'st.
Star of the North! while blazing day
Pours round me its full tide of light,
And hides thy pale but faithful ray,
I, too, lie hid, and long for night;—
For night: I dare not walk at noon,
Nor dare I trust the faithless moon,—
Nor faithless man, whose burning lust
For gold hath rivetted my chain;
No other leader ran I trust,
But thee, of ev'n the starry train;
For, all the host around thee burning,
Like faithless man, keep turning, turning.
I may not follow where they go:
Star of the north, I look to thee,
While on I press; for well I know
Thy light and truth shall set me free;—
Thy fight, that no poor slave dereiveth;
Thy truth, that all ray soul believeth.
They of the East beheld the star
That over Bethlehem's manger glowed;
With joy they hailed it from afar,
And followed where it marked the road,
Till, where its rays directly fell,
They found ths hope of Israel.
Wise were the men who followed thus
The Star that sets men free from sin.
Star of the North! thou art to us,
Who're slaves because we wear a skin
Dark as is night's protecting wing,—
Thou art to us a holy thing.
And we are wise to follow thee,
I trust thy steady light alone,
Star of the North! thou seem'st to me
To burn before the Almighty's throne,
To guide me, through these forests dim
And vast, to Liberty and Him.
Thy beam is on the glassy breast
Of the still spring, upon whose brink
I lay my weary limbs to rest,
And bow my parching limbs to drink,
Guide of the friendless, negro's way,
I bless thee for this quiet ray.
In the dark top of southern pines
I nestled when the driver's horn
Called to the field, in lengthening lines,
My fellows, at the break of morn,
And there I lay till thy sweet face
Looked in upon my hiding place.
The tangled cane-brake, where I crept
For shelter from the heat of noon,
And where, while others toiled, I slept,
Till wakened by the rising moon,—
As its stalks felt the night wind free,
Gave me to catch a glimpse of thee.
Star of the North! in bright array
The constellations round thee sweep,
Each holding on its nightly way,
Rising or sinking in the deep,
And, as it hangs in mid-heaven flaming,
The homage of some nation claiming.
This nation to the Eagle[1] cowers;
Fit ensign!—she's a bird of spoil:
Like worships like; for each devours
The earnings of another's toil.
I've felt her talons and her beak,
And now the gentler Lion seek.
The Lion, at the Virgin's feet,
Crouches, and lays his mighty paw
Into her lap;—an emblem meet
Of England's queen and English law;—
Queen, that hath made her islands free;
Law, that holds out its shield to me.
Star of the North! upon that shield
Thou shinest. O forever shine!
The negro, from the cotton-field,
Shall then beneath its orb recline,
And feed the Lion couched before it,
Nor heed the Eagle screaming o'er it.—Pierpont.
- ↑ The constellations Aquila, Leo, and Virgo, are here meant by the astronomical fugitive.