Poems on Slavery/The Warning
THE WARNING.
Beware! The Israelite of old, who tore The lion in his path,—when, poor and blind,He saw the blessed light of heaven no more, Shorn of his noble strength and forced to grindIn prison, and at last led forth to beA pander to Philistine revelry,—
Upon the pillars of the temple laid His desperate hands, and in its overthrowDestroyed himself, and with him those who made A cruel mockery of his sightless woe;The poor, blind Slave, the scoff and jest of all,Expired, and thousands perished in the fall!
There is a poor, blind Samson in this land, Shorn of his strength and bound in bonds of steel,Who may, in some grim revel, raise his hand, And shake the pillars of this Commonweal,Till the vast Temple of our libertiesA shapeless mass of wreck and rubbish lies.
End.