WE ask not that the slave should lie, As lies his master, at his ease, Beneath a silken canopy, Or in the shade of blooming trees. We mourn not that the man should toil; 'T is nature's need -- 't is God's decree; But, let the hand that tills the soil, Be, like the wind that fans it, free. We ask not 'eye for eye' -- that all, Who forge the chain and ply the whip, Should feel their torture -- that the thrall Should wield the scourge of mastership -- We only ask, O God, that they, Who bind a brother, may relent: But, GREAT AVENGER, we do pray That the wrong-doer may repent. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A PARADOX by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE DESERTED HOUSE by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE HAMATREYA by RALPH WALDO EMERSON SONNET: 9. TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY by JOHN MILTON THE MOTHER'S HEART by CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN NORTON SONGS OF TRAVEL: 26. IF THIS WERE FAITH by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON |