Page:Negro poets and their poems (IA negropoetstheirp00kerl).pdf/261

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THE POETRY OF PROTEST
239

A MESSAGE TO THE MODERN PHARAOHS

(Loose him and let him go—John 11.44)

“Loose him!”—this man on whom you plod
Beneath your heel hate-iron-shod;
His silent sorrow troubles God—
“Let him go!”

There will be plagues, wars will not cease,—
There cannot be a lasting peace
Until this being you release—
“Let him go!”

Each doomful kingdom—throne and crown—
Built on the lowly fettered down,
Shall perish—lo, the heavens frown—
“Let him go!”

Naught but a name is Liberty,
Naught but a name—Democracy,
Till love has made each mortal free—
“Let him go!”

“Loose him!” He has his part to play
In Life’s Great Drama, day by day,—
He has his mission, God’s own way,—
“Let him go!”

“Loose him!” ’Twill be your master rôle,
’Twill be your triumph and your goal:
’Twill be the saving of your soul—
“Let him go!”