Stanzas on Freedom

Men! whose boast it is that yeCome of fathers brave and free,If there breathe on earth a slave,Are ye truly free and brave?If ye do not feel the chain,When it works a brother's pain,Are you not base slaves indeed,Slaves unworthy to be freed?

Women! who shall one day bearSons to breathe New England air,If ye hear, without a blush,Deeds to make the roused blood rushLike red lava through your veins,For your sisters now in chains,—Answer! are ye fit to beMothers of the brave and free!

Is true Freedom but to breakFetters for our own dear sake,And, with leathern hearts, forgetThat we owe mankind a debt?No! true freedom is to shareAll the chains our brothers wear,And, with heart and hand, to beEarnest to make others free!

They are slaves who fear to speakFor the fallen and the weak;They are slaves who will not chooseHatred, scoffing, and abuse,Rather than in silence shrinkFrom the truth they needs must think;They are slaves who dare not to beIn the right with two or three.