The Witnesses

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In Ocean’s wide domains,
    Half buried in the sands,
Lie skeletons in chains,
    With shackled feet and hands.

Beyond the fall of dews,
    Deeper than plummet lies,
Float ships, with all their crews,
    No more to sink nor rise.

There the black Slave-ship swims,
    Freighted with human forms,
Whose fettered, fleshless limbs
    Are not the sport of storms.

These are the bones of Slaves;
    They gleam from the abyss;
They cry, from yawning waves,
    “We are the Witnesses!”

Within Earth’s wide domains
    Are markets for men’s lives;
Their necks are galled with chains,
    Their wrists are cramped with gyves.

Dead bodies, that the kite
    In deserts makes its prey;
Murders, that with affright
    Scare school-boys from their play!

All evil thoughts and deeds;
    Anger, and lust, and pride;
The foulest, rankest weeds,
    That choke Life’s groaning tide!

These are the woes of Slaves;
    They glare from the abyss;
They cry, from unknown graves,
    “We are the Witnesses!”

Next 10 Poems

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Wreck Of The Hesperus
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : There Was A Little Girl
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : Tide Rises, The Tide Falls, The
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : To A Child
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : To An Old Danish Song-book
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : To The Driving Cloud
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : To The River Charles
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : To William E. Channing
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : Ultima Thule
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : Village Blacksmith, The

Previous 10 Poems

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Village Blacksmith
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Three Kings
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Sound Of The Sea
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Slave's Dream
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Skeleton In Armor
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Reaper And The Flowers
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Rainy Day
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Psalm Of Life
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Poet's Calendar: 12 - December