Dromo's Den

[ Dromo's Den ]

(Download Audio Bible Defense of Slavery)

(sound courtesy of Rothe Technologies, Inc.)

Francis Ellen Watkins Harper

TAKE sackcloth of the darkest dye,

And shroud the pulpits round!

Servants of Him that cannot lie,

Sit mourning on the ground.

Let holy horror blanch each cheek,

Pale every brow with fears:

And rocks and stones, if ye could speak,

Ye well might melt to tears!

Let sorrow breathe in every tone,

In every strain ye raise;

Insult not God's majestic throne

With th' mockery of praise.

A "reverend" man, whose light should be

The guide of age and youth,

Brings to the shrine of Slavery

The sacrifice of truth!

For the direst wrong by man imposed,

Since Sodom's fearful cry,

The word of life has been enclosed,

To give your God the lie.

Oh! when we pray for the heathen lands,

And plead for their dark shores,

Remember Slavery's cruel hands

Make heathens at your doors!

Frances Ellen Watkins, Poems, on Miscellaneous Subjects

(Philadelphia: Merrihew & Thompson, 1857) 6-8.