Poems (Gould, 1833)/Who is My Neighbor
WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?
Who is thy neighbor!—see him stand, With sunken cheek and eye,Where hunger shows the empty hand Thy bounty can supply!Look where the widowed mother pines For what thou well canst spare;Where palsied age, in want, reclines, And see thy neighbor there!
Behold him in the stranger, thrown Upon a foreign shore,Who, homeless, friendless, and alone, Is shivering at thy door!Go meet him in thine enemy, And good for evil pay;And bear in mind, for such as he, Thy Saviour bids thee pray.
Go seek him in the dungeon's night, And comfort there impart;Implore the smile of Heaven to light That desolated heart.Look where the son of Afric sighs For rights enjoyed by thee;He is thy neighbor!—loose his ties And set the captive free!
Columbia, favored of the skies! How can thy banner wave,While at thy feet, thy neighbor lies A crushed and fettered slave?There is a blot among its stars; A stain upon thy hand;A mark upon thy face, that mars The beauty of our land!
Thou noble tree of liberty, Should not thy verdure fadeO'er him who would his neighbor see Excluded from thy shade?Did they who reared thee by their toil Not will thy fruit to be,Alike, for all who tread thy soil, A harvest sweet and free?