In the "Old South"
by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807�1892) |
 |
|
She came and stood in the Old South Church,
A wonder
and a sign,
With a look the old-time sibyls wore,
Half-crazed and half-divine.
Save the mournful
sackcloth about her wound,
Unclothed as the primal
mother,
With limbs that trembled and eyes that blazed
With a fire she dare not smother.
Loose on her
shoulders fell her hair,
With sprinkled ashes gray;
She stood in the broad aisle strange and weird
As a soul
at the judgment day.
And the minister paused in his
sermon's midst,
And the people held their breath,
For
these were the words the maiden spoke
Through lips as the
lips of death:
"Thus saith the Lord, with equal feet
All men my courts shall tread,
And priest and ruler no
more shall eat
My people up like bread!
"Repent!
repent! ere the Lord shall speak
In thunder and breaking
seals
Let all souls worship Him in the way
His light
within reveals."
She shook the dust from her naked
feet,
And her sackcloth closer drew,
And into the
porch of the awe-hushed church
She passed like a ghost
from view.
They whipped her away at the tail o' the
cart
Through half the streets of the town,
But the
words she uttered that day nor fire
Could burn nor water
drown.
And now the aisles of the ancient church
By
equal feet are trod,
And the bell that swings in its
belfry rings
Freedom to worship God!
And now
whenever a wrong is done
It thrills the conscious walls;
The stone from the basement cries aloud
And the beam from
the timber calls.
There are steeple-houses on every
hand,
And pulpits that bless and ban,
And the Lord
will not grudge the single church
That is set apart for
man.
For in two commandments are all the law
And
the prophets under the sun,
And the first is last and the
last is first,
And the twain are verily one.
So,
long as Boston shall Boston be,
And her bay-tides rise
and fall,
Shall freedom stand in the Old South Church
And plead for the rights of all! |
By John Greenleaf Whittier (1807�1892)
Listed
November 2, 2013 |
|
Poem Use Permission Request
USA Patriotism! cannot
provide use permission for a poem or an author's email address
if not listed below the poem. Only the author or a legal
representative can grant permission. Try a search engine to find the
author's contact information for a use permission request or if
it is available for public use.
Note: Poems authored in the
1700s and 1800s can be used with reference to the author. |
Comment on this poem |
|
| | |
|
| Country and Flag Poems | Poem Categories |
|
