Lines. In Honor of Capt. John Brown

Lines. In Honor of Capt. John Brown

Thou art gone, brave man, yet hope has loaned

Her rays to light the gloom,

And dispel the tears that sorrow shed

Upon the hero's tomb.

Thy end was as the setting sun,

Whose tints forbid regret,

A rainbow mid the clouds, to show

That God remembers yet.

Weep, mothers! we have lost a friend,

As kind as he was brave;

E'en on his way to death he bent

And kissed a babe—a slave!

Nor shuddered as was prest to his

The infant's dusky cheek;

He loved us to the last—but list,

His tyrant vietors speak.

We have no Union to dissolve!

Why not? 'Tis freedom's soil;

No rights that white men must respect—

We're doomed to servile toil.

Shall we submit, and cringe to laws

Framed by a tyrant foe,

While freedom sends its glowing thrill

Through one dark bosom? No!

John Brown in slain, and loud the notes

Of triumph proudly swell;

But the "Ides of March" are not yet pass'd—

Beware how Caesar fell!

Loved Brutus dealt the cruel stroke,

And Rome's conspiring host;

Thus slavery's deadliest blow has fall'n

From those who loved it most.

And ask you when that blow was given—

By whom the deed was done?

Virginia, when she slew John Brown—

Then slavery's fall begun.

Upon her soil a Thompson died,

And there our hero gave

His noble sons as martyr's for

The freedom of the slave.

We love him, yet we would not win

His form to earth again;

North Elba claims the mortal part,

His spirit here doth reign.

And yet, when future years proclaim

Our dear bought liberty,

To John Brown and his noble band

We'll trace our victory.

Cease, boisterous Justice, blend your tears

With the bereaved who mourn;

Their garland of hom circles rent,

Their brightest laurels gone.

Oh! cherish still those bleeding hearts,

Be all our sympathies given,

To cheer and comfort them until

We yield them up to heaven!

Mrs. A.C. Ross

1:25, p. 4

1.7.1860