The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-08-26
Hank DER the forest comes the sound


That the patriot never dies,
For the plant his blood first nourished
Is towering to the skies
Lo the famed st. Louis,
With its turrets, looms before
And soc the low and sandy line
Of Bloody Island " shore
Here the altar to false honor
Rears its foul head to Heaven
And souls rush TO Gods judgment bar
BlOod-stained and unforgiven
With their dark, mysterious arches,
Wrought by an unknown hand
Like some ancient castles portals
The bluffs of Selma" stand
And as We pass we pause to hear
The chanting of hymn,
And look to see the mailed form
OF sentry tall and grim,
More sad than its old nsmesake,
On the Egyptian sands.
Clad in emblematic fungus,
And still dripping, Cairo stands.
Here starved the love Of luere,
Here cen Speculation failed
And, for loss of hopes and dollars
The sons of MammOn walled
Given by the hand of God to mark
The slave land from the free
The bright 0hio's silver wave
Is sweeping to the sea.
Hail Jordan of the fugitive
Thy border mon are brave,
And woe to the slave hunter
Who crosses Der thy wave
Thou CONTEST as at evening comes
The light of Luna's beam
To mingle thy pure waters
With the dark and turbid stream;
And spreading forth in silence,
Untracked by human eye
Thou goest on thy mission,
To light and purify
So passing toward the eternal sea,
Life's good and evil blond,
But the good is indestructible,
Az its Author and its end
And every blow for human right
Each response to duty's calls,
Shall echo down the golden streets,
And ring from crystal walls
The moon is up-wo glide on
By the shore so dim and lone,
Past many a nameless isl1m
Which no human foot hath known.
Whose o'erhanging tangled thicket
In fantastic shapes arrayed,
With the giant cottonwood throw down
A broad and gloomy shade.
Tis midnight-all unbrokon,
Deep Silence holds her throne
Save the ascending steamers throes,
Like some fettered monsters groan,
Or dash Of waye upon her bow,
Or ring of warning bell.
Or cry of startled wild bird
Or of panther on tho fell
lis m0rning-now the sunshine
Slowly lights the sombre scene,
And the forests lofty summit
Is robed in brighter green;
Now wind the thickenod wreaths of mist,
Er t-~oa ito r.~,sl,ia dank.
And smoke curls from out this chimneys
Of the log hut on the bank.
See yonder broad plantation,
List the negro drivers horn
His foul cursos and his whip crack
Are his greeting to tho morn
From their cabins creep the bondmen,
Cursing the morning ray,
Which calls to toll and suffering,
Through another weary day.
o God ere that bright orb at eve
Shall meet the Western wave
How shall the chain land rsdden
With tho warm blood of the slave
Ere again, to greet his coming,
Those gloomy forests wake,
How shall the souls be trampled
And the strong heart-strings break
Still on-tbe sun, ascending,
Chances far adown the stream,
And round the distant headland
The whirling waters CLEAN
The wood-crowned hills show dimly
Through the mist shroud hanging Ger
And the vapor wreaths arc sweeping
Along The half seen shore.
Where the scourges swing unceasing
Where the unpaid tolers bend,
Through the land of woe and wailing,
Haste we to our journeys end
Knowing that while the poor and weak
Are trampled by the strong,
Gods angels count the blood drops
And keep record of tho wrong
We float by palm grit villa,
By tho city on tho bluff,
And hold our way meath silent woods,
And shores storm marked and rough
Now, tempest driven, we're rushing
Past crag and black ravine,
And scan the jungle's Utmost depths,
By the lightning vivid sheen.
The storm has passod-around us
Stand forests wet and dark
Now the sunshine lights our dripping deck,
More calmly glides our bark;
And fragrant scent Of orange blooms,
Wild rose, and nameess flowers,
Load the soft breeze, a. If il came
From out lost Edons bowers.
Far down the hurrying river
Hangs the tempest's shroud Of gloom,
And follows on the lightning's fash
The sullen thunder boom;
Called for a moment from the field,
From blast and drencbing rain,
Tho slave gangs now, at sound Of horn,
Bend to their tasks again.
Plantation joins plantation,
And the signs OF ill-got gain
Grow thicker all around US,
As We noar tho distant main
Crime stalks, all unnOlested,
Der the fair and fertile land,
Aud lifts defiant unto Heaven
Its crimson dripping hand
Onward, brothers falter never,
Through the weary night and day
Though the shadow of Oppression
Glides before us on our way;
God reigneth in the Heavens
Hopes sun shall mover sot,
He shall bare his arm In vengeance,