Back to the breast of thy mother, <br />Child of the earth! <br />E'en her caress can not smother <br />What thou hast done. <br />Follow the trail of the westering sun <br />Over the earth. <br />Thy light and his were as one-- <br />Sun, in thy worth. <br />Unto a nation whose sky was as night, <br />Camest thou, holily, bearing thy light: <br />And the dawn came, <br />In it thy fame <br />Flashed up in a flame. <br /> <br />Back to the breast of thy mother-- <br />To rest. <br />Long hast thou striven; <br />Dared where the hills by the lightning of heaven were riven; <br />Go now, pure shriven. <br />Who shall come after thee, out of the clay-- <br />Learned one and leader to show us the way? <br />Who shall rise up when the world gives the test? <br />Think thou no more of this-- <br />Rest!<br /><br />Paul Laurence Dunbar<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/alexander-crummell-dead/
