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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Works

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

To William E. Channing

Additional Information
  • Year Published: 1866
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States of America
  • Source: Longfellow, H.W. (1866) The Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Boston, Massachusetts: Ticknor & Fields
  • Readability:
    • Flesch–Kincaid Level: 9.0
  • Word Count: 139
  • Genre: Poetry
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The pages of thy book I read,
   And as I closed each one,
My heart, responding, ever said,
   “Servant of God! Well done!”

Well done!  Thy words are great and bold;
   At times they seem to me,
Like Luther’s, in the days of old,
   Half-battles for the free.

Go on, until this land revokes
   The old and chartered lie,
The feudal curse, whose whips and yokes
   Insult humanity.

A voice is ever at thy side
   Speaking in tones of might,
Like the prophetic voice, that cried
   To John in Patmos, “Write!”

Write! And tell out this bloody tale;
   Record this dire eclipse,
This Day of Wrath, this Endless Wail,
   This dread Apocalypse!