Difference of Color

Difference of Color

God gave to Afric's sons

A brow of sable dye,

And spread the country of their birth

Beneath a burning sky;

And with a cheek of olive, made

The little Hindoo child,

And darkly stain'd the forest tribes

That roam our Western wild.

To me he gave a form

Of fairer, whiter clay;

But am I, therefore, in his sight

Respected more than they?

No - 'tis the hue of deeds and thoughts

He traces in his book -

'Tis the complexion of the heart,

On which He deigns to look.

Not by the tinted cheek,

That fades away so fast -

But by the color of the soul

We shall be judged at last.

And God, the Judge, will look at me

With anger in his eyes,

If I my brother's darker brow

Should ever dare despise.

Mrs. Sigourney (Lydia Huntley Sigourney)

2:25, p. 100

1838.08.11