The
Separation
'Friend
after friend departs.'
And
they are gone-that little band
Of
friends-the firm and true!
We
feel the void which absence makes,
With
joy, and sorrow too.
We
joy that duties call them forth,
Clad
in an armor bright;
With
shield of faith, their surest guard,
And
sword of truth and light.
We
bid God speed their parting steps,
And
bless the righteous cause:-
Where'er
the path of duty points,
May
duty never pause.
And
yet, we sorrow most of all
And
from the heart deplore
That
we perchance on earth again
May
see these friends no more.
Their
works shall live when other deeds,
Which
ask a nation's fame,
Have
sunk beneath Time's whelming wave,
Unhonored
and unnamed.
--Dec.
9th, 1833.
Note:
Forten wrote this poem after an anti-slavery convention in Philadelphia.
