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Read the collected works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
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To William E. Channing
from Poems on Slavery

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1807-1882)


The pages of thy book I read,
   And as I closed each one,
My heart, responding, ever said,
   "Servant of God! well done!"

Well done!  Thy words are great and bold;
   At times they seem to me,
Like Luther's, in the days of old,
   Half-battles for the free.

Go on, until this land revokes
   The old and chartered Lie,
The feudal curse, whose whips and yokes
   Insult humanity.

A voice is ever at thy side
   Speaking in tones of might,
Like the prophetic voice, that cried
   To John in Patmos, "Write!"

Write! and tell out this bloody tale;
   Record this dire eclipse,
This Day of Wrath, this Endless Wail,
   This dread Apocalypse!


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