Man

I was born as free as the silvery lightThat laughs in a Southern fountain;Free as the sea-fed bird that nestsOn a Scandinavian mountain,Free as the wind that mocks at the swayAnd pinioning clasp of another,Yet in the slave they scourged to-dayI saw and knew—my brother!

Vested in purple I sat apart,But the cord that smote him bruised me;I closed my ears, but the sob that brokeFrom his savage breast accused me;No phrase of reasoning judgement justThe plaint of my soul could smother,A creature vile, abased to the dust,I knew him still—my brother.

And the autumn day that had smiled so fairSeemed suddenly overclouded;A gloom, more dreadful than Nature owns,My human mind enshrouded;I thought of the power benign that madeAnd bound men one to the other,And I felt in my brother's fear afraid,And ashamed in the shame of my brother.