Poems on Slavery/To William E. Channing

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

TO WILLIAM E. CHANNING.

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The pages of thy book I read,
 And as I closed each one,
My heart, responding, ever said,
 "Servant of God! well done!"

Well done! Thy words are great and bold;
 At times they seem to me,
Like Luther's, in the days of old,
 Half-battles for the free.

Go on, until this land revokes
 The old and chartered Lie,
The feudal curse, whose whips and yokes
 Insult humanity.

A voice is ever at thy side
 Speaking in tones of might,
Like the prophetic voice, that cried
 To John in Patmos, "Write!"

Write! and tell out this bloody tale;
 Record this dire eclipse,
This Day of Wrath, this Endless Wail,
 This dread Apocalypse!