Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Poems

Heard you that shriek? It rose
So wildly on the air,
It seemed as if a burden'd heart
Was breaking in despair.
...

Of course, I don't know very much
About these politics,
But I think that some who run 'em,
Do mighty ugly tricks.
...

Very soon the Yankee teachers
Came down and set up school;
But, oh! how the Rebs did hate it, -
It was agin' their rule.
...

I had a dream, a varied dream:
Before my ravished sight
The city of my Lord arose,
With all its love and light.
...

Yes, Ethiopia yet shall stretch
Her bleeding hands abroad;
Her cry of agony shall reach
The burning throne of God.
...

FIRST VOICE.

I thirst, but earth cannot allay
The fever coursing through my veins,
...

He stood before the sons of Heth,
And bowed his sorrowing head;
"I've come," he said, "to buy a place
Where I may lay my dead.
...

They heard the South wind sighing
A murmur of the rain;
And they knew that Earth was longing
...

Come to me when I'm dying;
Gaze on my wasted form,
Tired with so long defying
...

Let me make the songs for the people,
Songs for the old and young;
Songs to stir like a battle-cry
Wherever they are sung.
...