Oh great Jehovah! God of love, <br />Thou monarch of the earth and sky, <br />Canst thou from thy great throne above <br />Look down with an unpitying eye? - <br /> <br /> <br />See Afric's sons and daughters toil, <br />Day after day, year after year, <br />Upon this blood-bemoistened soil, <br />And to their cries turn a deaf ear? <br /> <br /> <br />Canst thou the white oppressor bless <br />With verdant hills and fruitful plains, <br />Regardless of the slave's distress, <br />Unmindful of the black man's chains. <br /> <br /> <br />How long, oh Lord! ere thou wilt speak <br />In thy Almighty thundering voice, <br />To bid the oppressor's fetters break, <br />And Ethiopia's sons rejoice. <br /> <br /> <br />How long shall Slavery's iron grip, <br />And Prejudice's guilty hand, <br />Send forth, like blood-hounds from the slip, <br />Foul persecutions o'er the land? <br /> <br /> <br />How long shall puny mortals dare <br />To violate thy just decree, <br />And force their fellow-men to wear <br />The galling chain on land and sea? <br /> <br /> <br />Hasten, oh Lord! the glorious time <br />When everywhere beneath the skies, <br />From every land and every clime, <br />Peans to Liberty shall rise! <br /> <br /> <br />When the bright sun of liberty <br />Shall shine o'er each despotic land, <br />And all mankind, from bondage free, <br />Adore the wonders of thy hand.<br /><br />James Monroe Whitfield<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/prayer-of-the-oppressed/
