Conquer by Truth

We freed the Black Man, let us free the White!
     Millions of treasure, seas of human blood 
     And a deep moan of myriad Widowhood, 
Were the dear price we gave for one plain right-
So long withheld in truth + reason’s spite.
     Statesman + priest + man-thief, all withstood,
     With law + bible + the murderous brood
Of lawless mob, for allies in the fight;
But law + bible + the mad uproar, 
     Were weak to check the chariot of Reform;
They only taught what wise men taught before,— 
     Justice delayed invites the avenging storm!!
Have wrath & wisdom both pronounced in vain
The Eternal Law? Or now shall Right impartial reign?

                             II.
Against tie weight-pf Wealth’s, despotic heel.
     That stamps the life-blood from the heart toil, 
     Till veins of calm Philosophers might boil;—
Plead, & still plead, with Reason's warm appeal, 
Drowning the frenzied cry for fire & steel. 
     Small is the claim, yet sacred, free to moil
     And swink in mill & mine & niggard soil,
Each for his own & for the commonweal
The world is conquered by the dual force
     Of Brain & Muscle, married let them be;
     Then Doer & Thinker shall be one, & free.
Fraud & oppressor reign in their divorce,
     Long-suffering, not in silence nor in rage,
Urging a just appeal, a winning strife shall wage!

                             III.
The calm, wise plea for justice is more strong
     Than howling populace & exploding shell.
     Or the rich robber’s law-built citadel.
Truth trusts itself, but wrath is conscious wrong.
Discovered outrage, naked scourged, not-long
     Endures the torture, — to its native hell
     It flies the sunlight with a boding yell
That sends new terror to its kindred throng.
Oppression laughs at violence, where the Right
     Forgets her holy strength & leaps to arms—
Those brutal guards of his despotic might;—
     A keener weapon, that shoots swift alarms
To his fierce heart, is Truth’s warring[?] shaft,
At this, hurled flashing home, no tyrant ever laughed!