ON COMPLETING MY THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR.
IF to the age of three-score years and ten,
God of my life ! thoti shalt my term prolong,
Still be it mine to reprobate all wrong,
And save from woe my suffering fellow-men.
Whether, in Freedom's cause, my voice or pen
Be used by Thee, who art my boast and song,
To vindicate the weak against the strong,
Upon my labors rest Thy benison !
O, not for Afric's sons alone I plead,
Or her descendants ; but for all who sigh
In servile chains, whate'er their caste or creed :
They not in vain to Heaven send up their cry ;
For all mankind from bondage shall be freed,
And from the earth be chased all forms of tyranny.
.
IF to the age of three-score years and ten,
God of my life ! thoti shalt my term prolong,
Still be it mine to reprobate all wrong,
And save from woe my suffering fellow-men.
Whether, in Freedom's cause, my voice or pen
Be used by Thee, who art my boast and song,
To vindicate the weak against the strong,
Upon my labors rest Thy benison !
O, not for Afric's sons alone I plead,
Or her descendants ; but for all who sigh
In servile chains, whate'er their caste or creed :
They not in vain to Heaven send up their cry ;
For all mankind from bondage shall be freed,
And from the earth be chased all forms of tyranny.
.
Der Anspruch ihn auszudrücken, schärft auch den Eindruck.