AMIDST thy sacred effigies <br />Of old renown give place, <br />O city, Freedom-loved! to his <br />Whose hand unchained a race. <br />Take the worn frame, that rested not <br />Save in a martyr's grave; <br />The care-lined face, that none forgot, <br />Bent to the kneeling slave. <br />Let man be free! The mighty word <br />He spake was not his own; <br />An impulse from the Highest stirred <br />These chiselled lips alone. <br />The cloudy sign, the fiery guide, <br />Along his pathway ran, <br />And Nature, through his voice, denied <br />The ownership of man. <br />We rest in peace where these sad eyes <br />Saw peril, strife, and pain; <br />His was the nation's sacrifice, <br />And ours the priceless gain. <br />O symbol of God's will on earth <br />As it is done above! <br />Bear witness to the cost and worth <br />Of justice and of love. <br />Stand in thy place and testify <br />To coming ages long, <br />That truth is stronger than a lie, <br />And righteousness than wrong.<br /><br />John Greenleaf Whittier<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-emancipation-group/
