I.
Man’s inhumanity to Man!
Oh hideous tale to tell,—
What cheek unblanch’d can calmly scan
Those characters of hell?
What pen, what poet, dares to paint
The terrors of that strife,
Wherein so many a martyr’d saint
Has moan’d away his life?
II.
O Roman friars,— Spanish priests,
Ye wretched cruel men,
More bloody than infuriate beasts
Half-famish’d in their den,—
How dreadful are the human woes
Your secret vaults have seen,—
God’s patient vengeance only knows
What horrors there have been!
III.
And, Slavery! human nature’s shame,
The curse of human-kind,
How hateful is thy very name,
To ear, and heart, and mind!
The sugar-mill, the cotton-field,
The lash, the goad, the chain,—
Alas! how huge a crop they yield
Of wickedness and pain!
IV.
And, here at home, let childhood’s shriek,
On coalpit echoes borne,—
And starving woman’s hollow cheek
In city streets forlorn,—
And mean oppression’s heavy hand
On patient merit’s head,—
Ask everywhere throughout the land,
—Whither has Mercy fled?
Yet is there comfort: God above
Long-suffering doth not sleep;
He treasures up with tenderest love
The tears of those who weep;
Holy, and Merciful, and Strong,
Be sure, His glorious Might
For all oppression, pain, and wrong
Will righteously requite!
VI.
And there is comfort: victim soul,
Go straight before that Judge;
With pitying care to hear the whole
His patience will not grudge;
So, out of harm, and hate, and pain,
If thou but kiss the rod,
Thou shalt attain the golden gain
Of Brotherhood with God!
(Martin Farquhar Tupper)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, God Poems, Life Poems, Mind Poems, Soul Poems, Name Poems, Home Poems, Pain Poems, Sleep Poems, Literature Poems, Law & Regulation PoemsBased on Keywords: head-, long-suffering, infuriate, tell-, seen-, inhumanity, chain-, borne-, den-, coalpit, cotton-field