Читать книгу The Rising Son; or, the Antecedents and Advancement of the Colored Race - William Wells Brown - Страница 5

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BY ELIJAH W. SMITH.

Come forth, historian of our race,

And with the pen of Truth

Bring to our claim to Manhood’s rights,

The strength of written proof;

Draw back the curtain of the past,

And lift the ages’ pall,

That we may view the portraits grand

That hang on History’s wall!

Tell of a race whose onward tide

Was often swelled with tears;

In whose hearts bondage has not quenched

The fire of former years

When Hannibal’s resistless hosts

Wrought his imperial will,

And brave Toussaint to freedom called,

From Hayti’s vine-clad hill.

Write when, in these, our later days,

Earth’s noble ones are named,

We have a roll of honor, too,

Of which we’re not ashamed;

If, for the errors of the past,

In chains did we atone,

God, from our race’s sepulchre,

Hath rolled away the stone.

And our dear land, that long hath slept

Beneath oppression’s spell,

Welcomes the manly fortitude

That stood the test so well;

Bearing the record, blazoned o’er

With deeds of valor done,

Up to the Future’s golden door

He comes, the “Rising Son.”

The battle’s din hath passed away,

And o’er the furrowed plain

Spring, fresh and green, the tender blades

Of Freedom’s golden grain;

But eagle eyes must watch the field,

Lest the fell foe should dare

To scatter, while the sowers sleep,

Proscription’s noxious snare.

Lo! shadowy ’mid the forest-trees

Their demon forms are seen,

And lurid light of baleful eyes

Flash through the foliage green;

And till completed is the work

So gloriously begun,

A sentry true on Freedom’s walls

Stand thou, O “Rising Son!”

Go forth! the harbinger of days

More glorious than the past;

Hushed is the clash of hostile steel,

The bugle’s battle-blast;

Go, herald of the promised time,

When men of every land

Shall hasten joyfully to grasp

The Ethiope’s outstretched hand!