Personal Poems II / Part 2 from Volume IV of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier

This eBook was produced by David Widger
Richard Dillingham, a young member of the Society of Friends, died in the Nashville penitentiary, where he was confined for the act of aiding the escape of fugitive slaves.
The cross, if rightly borne, shall be No burden, but support to thee; So, moved of old time for our sake, The holy monk of Kempen spake.
Thou brave and true one! upon whom Was laid the cross of martyrdom, How didst thou, in thy generous youth, Bear witness to this blessed truth!
Thy cross of suffering and of shame A staff within thy hands became, In paths where faith alone could see The Master's steps supporting thee.
Thine was the seed-time; God alone Beholds the end of what is sown; Beyond our vision, weak and dim, The harvest-time is hid with Him.
Yet, unforgotten where it lies, That seed of generous sacrifice, Though seeming on the desert cast, Shall rise with bloom and fruit at last. 1852.
The hero of the incident related in this poem was Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, the well-known philanthropist, who when a young man volunteered his aid in the Greek struggle for independence.
Oh for a knight like Bayard, Without reproach or fear; My light glove on his casque of steel, My love-knot on his spear!
Oh for the white plume floating Sad Zutphen's field above,— The lion heart in battle, The woman's heart in love!
Oh that man once more were manly, Woman's pride, and not her scorn: That once more the pale young mother Dared to boast `a man is born'!
But, now life's slumberous current No sun-bowed cascade wakes; No tall, heroic manhood The level dulness breaks.