Prayer For The Abolitionist

We ask not that the slave should lie, As lies his master, at his ease, Beneath a silken canopy, Or in the shade of blooming trees. We mourn not that the man should toil; 'T is nature's need--'t is God's decree; But, let the hand that tills the soil, Be, like the wind that fans it, free. We ask not 'eye for eye'--that all, Who forge the chain and ply the whip, Should feel their torture--that the thrall Should wield the scourge of mastership-- We only ask, O God, that they, Who bind a brother, may relent: But, Great Avenger, we do pray That the wrong-doer may repent.