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 | The Poetical Works of James Madison Bell |  |
Then gird thy loins, for lo! thy course,
O brother! long oppress'd by force,
With stalwart arm and ebon brow,
Was never half so plain as now:
Nor half so ominously bright
With Hope's refulgent beams of light—
For with each deafening cannon's roar,
Thy hated chains grow less secure:
And, like the fumes of war, shall they
Dissolve ere long, and pass away.
Meanwhile, from thraldom's gloomy slough
Millions shall come forth such as thou,
And Fame a laurel wreath shall twine
For many a brow of Afric line.
O brother! long oppress'd by force,
With stalwart arm and ebon brow,
Was never half so plain as now:
Nor half so ominously bright
With Hope's refulgent beams of light—
For with each deafening cannon's roar,
Thy hated chains grow less secure:
And, like the fumes of war, shall they
Dissolve ere long, and pass away.
Meanwhile, from thraldom's gloomy slough
Millions shall come forth such as thou,
And Fame a laurel wreath shall twine
For many a brow of Afric line.
| The Poetical Works of James Madison Bell | |