Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (Harper, 1857)/The Tennessee hero

by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

THE TENNESSEE HERO.

"He had heard his comrades plotting to obtain their liberty, and rather than betray them he received 750 lashes and died."

He stood before the savage throng,
 The base and coward crew;
A tameless light flashed from his eye,
 His heart beat firm and true.

He was the hero of his band,
 The noblest of them all;
Though fetters galled his weary limbs,
 His spirit spurned their thrall.

And towered, in its manly might,
 Above the murderous crew.
Oh! liberty had nerved his heart,
 And every pulse beat true.

"Now tell us," said the savage troop,
 "And life thy gain shall be!
Who are the men that plotting, say—
 'They must and will be free!'"

Oh, could you have seen the hero then,
 As his lofty soul arose,
And his dauntless eyes defiance flashed
 On his mean and craven foes!

"I know the men who would be free;
 They are the heroes of your land;
But death and torture I defy,
 Ere I betray that band.

And what! oh, what is life to me,
 Beneath your base control?
Nay! do your worst. Ye have no chains
 To bind my free-born soul."

They brought the hateful lash and scourge,
 With murder in each eye.
But a solemn vow was on his lips—
 He had resolved to die.

Yes, rather than betray his trust,
 He'd meet a death of pain;
'T was sweeter far to meet it thus
 Than wear a treason stain!

Like storms of wrath, of hate and pain,
 The blows rained thick and fast;
But the monarch soul kept true
 Till the gates of life were past.

And the martyr spirit fled
 To the throne of God on high,
And showed his gaping wounds
 Before the unslumbering eye.