Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/387

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1840–50].
SARAH T. BOLTON.
371
Sing, till from every land and every sea
One universal ti'iumph song is given,
To hail the long-expected jubilee,
When every bond is broke and every vassal free.

And ye, whose birthright is the glorious dower
Of eloquence to thrill the immortal soul,
Use not unwisely the transcendant power.
To waken, guide, restrain, direct, control
The heart's deep, deep emotions ; let the goal
Of your ambition be a mind enshrined
By love and gratitude within the scroll,
"Where generations yet unborn shall find
The deathless deeds of those who loved and blessed mankind.

Go ! use the weighty energies that slumber
Unknown, unnumber'd in the world's great heart ;
Remove the stubborn errors that encumber
The fields of science, literature and art.
E-end superstition's darkening vail apart.
And hurl to earth blind bigotry, the ban
From which a thousand grievous evils start
To thwart and mar the great Creator's plan,
And break the ties that bind the brotherhood of man.

And ye who sit aloft in earth's high places
Perchance, amid your wealth, you scarcely know
That want and woe are leaving fearful traces
Upon the toiling multitude below.
From your abundance can ye not bestow
A mite to smooth the thorny paths they tread ?
Have ye no sympathy with human woe?
No ray of blessed hope and joy to shed
Upon the weary hearts that pine and toil for bread ?

Amid the gorgeous splendor that bedizens
Your palaces, no longer idly stand.
While dens of wickedness and loathsome prisons
Arise, like blighting plague-spots, o'er the land.
Go ! speak a word and lend a helping hand
To rescue men from degradation's thrall.
Nor deem a just and righteous God hath banned
The toiling millions, while the rain-drops fall,
And blessed sunbeams shine alike from heaven for all.

The smallest bark, on life's tempestuous ocean.
Will leave a track behind, forevermore ;
The lightest wave of influence, set in motion.
Extends and widens to the eternal shore.
We should be wary, then, who go before
A myriad yet to be, and we should take
Our bearing carefully, where breakers roar
And fearful tempests gather ; one mistake
May wreck unnumbered barks that follow in our wake.


PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE.

Voyager upon life's sea,
To yourself be true,
And where'er your lot may be,
Paddle your own canoe.
Never, though the winds may rave,
Falter nor look back;
But upon the darkest wave
Leave a shining track.

Nobly dare the wildest storm,
Stem the hardest gale,