African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology

Aaron Belford Thompson, "The Chain of Bondage" (1899)

THE CHAIN OF BONDAGE.

Arise! arise! my fellow-men,
Arise, with might and main;
     Arise, with intellectual din,
And cast aside your chains!

For, like a web around us bound,
This chain hath long entwined;
     It brought a mighty nation down,
And humbled low their minds.

How oft we're quelled when 'tempt to rise,
     By envy and disdain;
And ofttimes wipe our tearful eyes,
And try no more our chains.

Oh! tear them loose in union's strength!
We'll not be trampled down;
     We'll reach the promise land at length,
Behold the Ethiope's crown!


Published in Morning Songs, 1899

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