# The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier/Randolph of Roanoke

RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE
[Though not published until 1847, several lines indicate that the poem was written not long after Randolph’s death in 1833. In a letter published in July, 1833, Whittier says: “In the last hour of his [Randolph’s] existence, when his soul was struggling from its broken tenement, his latest effort was the confirmation of this generous act of a former period [the manumission of his slaves]. Light rest the turf upon him, beneath his patrimonial oaks! The prayers of many hearts made happy by his benevolence shall linger over his grave and bless it.”]
O Mother Earth! upon thy lap Thy weary ones receiving, And o’er them, silent as a dream, Thy grassy mantle weaving, Fold softly in thy long embrace That heart so worn and broken, And cool its pulse of fire beneath Thy shadows old and oaken.
Shut out from him the bitter word And serpent hiss of scorning; Nor let the storms of yesterday Disturb his quiet morning. Breathe over him forgetfulness Of all save deeds of kindness, And, save to smiles of grateful eyes, Press down his lids in blindness.
There, where with living ear and eye He heard Potomac’s flowing, And, through his tall ancestral trees, Saw autumn’s sunset glowing, He sleeps, still looking to the west, Beneath the dark wood shadow, As if he still would see the sun Sink down on wave and meadow.
Bard, Sage, and Tribune! in himself All moods of mind contrasting,— The tenderest wail of human woe, The scorn like lightning blasting; The pathos which from rival eyes Unwilling tears could summon, The stinging taunt, the fiery burst Of hatred scarcely human!
Mirth, sparkling like a diamond shower, From lips of life-long sadness; Clear picturings of majestic thought Upon a ground of madness; And over all Romance and Song A classic beauty throwing, And laurelled Clio at his side Her storied pages showing.
All parties feared him: each in turn Beheld its schemes disjointed, As right or left his fatal glance And spectral finger pointed. Sworn foe of Cant, he smote it down With trenchant wit unsparing, And, mocking, rent with ruthless hand The robe Pretence was wearing.
Too honest or too proud to feign A love he never cherished, Beyond Virginia’s border line His patriotism perished. While others hailed in distant skies Our eagle’s dusky pinion, He only saw the mountain bird Stoop o’er his Old Dominion!
Still through each change of fortune strange, Racked nerve, and brain all burning, His loving faith in Mother-land Knew never shade of turning; By Britain’s lakes, by Neva’s tide, Whatever sky was o’er him, He heard her rivers’ rushing sound, Her blue peaks rose before him.
He held his slaves, yet made withal No false and vain pretences, Nor paid a lying priest to seek For Scriptural defences. His harshest words of proud rebuke, His bitterest taunt and scorning, Fell fire-like on the Northern brow That bent to him in fawning.
He held his slaves; yet kept the while His reverence for the Human; In the dark vassals of his will He saw but Man and Woman! No hunter of God’s outraged poor His Roanoke valley entered; No trader in the souls of men Across his threshold ventured.
And when the old and wearied man Lay down for his last sleeping, And at his side, a slave no more, His brother-man stood weeping, His latest thought, his latest breath, To Freedom’s duty giving, With failing tongue and trembling hand The dying blest the living.
Oh, never bore his ancient State A truer son or braver! None trampling with a calmer scorn On foreign hate or favor. He knew her faults, yet never stooped His proud and manly feeling To poor excuses of the wrong Or meanness of concealing.
But none beheld with clearer eye The plague-spot o’er her spreading, None heard more sure the steps of Doom Along her future treading. For her as for himself he spake, When, his gaunt frame upbracing, He traced with dying hand “Remorse!” And perished in the tracing.
As from the grave where Henry sleeps, From Vernon’s weeping willow, And from the grassy pall which hides The Sage of Monticello, So from the leaf-strewn burial-stone Of Randolph’s lowly dwelling, Virginia! o’er thy land of slaves A warning voice is swelling!
And hark! from thy deserted fields Are sadder warnings spoken, From quenched hearths, where thy exiled sons Their household gods have broken. The curse is on thee,—wolves for men, And briers for corn-sheaves giving! Oh, more than all thy dead renown Were now one hero living!