"Will not these days be by thy poets sung": Poems of the Anglo-African and National Anti-Slavery Standard, 1863–1864
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"WHEN THE PRINCE IS PASSING BY."[1]
(INSCRIBED TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN.)
In Corea, when the Prince passes by with step of state,
All the people shut their doors, and their windows closely
bar; And woe betide the laggard who is caught without the
gate, When the Prince is passing by, under sun or under star!
bar; And woe betide the laggard who is caught without the
gate, When the Prince is passing by, under sun or under star!
Partly fear and partly hate prompts them thus to hide
away When the Prince is passing by, so that silence reigns su-
preme, As in cities in the sea, visible at close of day, Or in the enchanted hall, in the poet's princely dream.
away When the Prince is passing by, so that silence reigns su-
preme, As in cities in the sea, visible at close of day, Or in the enchanted hall, in the poet's princely dream.
But it matters little now, save to illustrate the lay,
And contrast it with this hour, when another Prince goes
by! When Emancipation rides through his broad domains
to-day, And we do not close the doors or the windows from his eye.
by! When Emancipation rides through his broad domains
to-day, And we do not close the doors or the windows from his eye.
But we open wide each gate, and from every outpost fling
To the breeze his stainless flag, fearing not to stand and see
How the shadows backward leap, and the sunbeams for-
ward spring, And the Nation's pulse is quickened by the President's
decree.[2]
ward spring, And the Nation's pulse is quickened by the President's
decree.[2]
And the Prince is passing by! Waited for—expected long—
Prayed for by the slave in chains—on the block and at the
stake— Patient-hearted under wrong—suffering, yet growing
strong— Looking forward to the day when he should their shackles
break.
stake— Patient-hearted under wrong—suffering, yet growing
strong— Looking forward to the day when he should their shackles
break.
How they throng the path he takes; how they follow in
his tread! How the very infants spring in their mothers' arms to-day! What blessings are invoked, as he bows his stately head, And smiles upon the Freedmen as he passes on his way.
his tread! How the very infants spring in their mothers' arms to-day! What blessings are invoked, as he bows his stately head, And smiles upon the Freedmen as he passes on his way.
Are there any bolted doors? Are there any windows
draped? Be sure no child of freedom calls that his home and hearth; The viper's head is hidden, for the victim has escaped From the land of sin and shame that has darkened all the
earth!
draped? Be sure no child of freedom calls that his home and hearth; The viper's head is hidden, for the victim has escaped From the land of sin and shame that has darkened all the
earth!
And the Prince is passing by! Send your shouts of wel-
come forth! Never heed the Corean law,[3] in this later, brighter day; Now the freedmen of the South are as freemen in the
North, And Slavery's doom is sealed, and the Curse has passed
away.
come forth! Never heed the Corean law,[3] in this later, brighter day; Now the freedmen of the South are as freemen in the
North, And Slavery's doom is sealed, and the Curse has passed
away.
Notes
- "When the Prince Is Passing By" also appeared in the National Anti-Slavery Standard of February 20, 1864. The Anglo-African and Standard texts are virtually identical, with the exception of the note "Written for the Anti-Slavery Standard," which appeared only
in the latter.
- President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) issued his final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. In it, he declared that
"all persons held as slaves" in rebel states "are, and henceforward shall be free"; he also pledged that "the Executive government
of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof" would "recognize and maintain the freedom of said
persons" (Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln [New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953], 6:29–30). Although the proclamation did not touch slavery in loyal border
states and exempted Union-occupied regions of Louisiana and Virginia as well as Tennessee, abolitionists recognized and celebrated
it as a great step forward.
- The "Corean law" to which Pabor here refers has not been identified.
- William Edgar Pabor (1834–1911), wartime postmaster of Harlem, New York (New York Tribune, April 1, 1861, [8]). In the 1850s and 1860s his poems were published in Godey's Lady's Book, Graham's American Monthly Magazine, and Peterson's Magazine, as well as the National Anti-Slavery Standard. He served as secretary of the Twelfth Ward Republican Association and produced poems and song sheets for Lincoln's presidential
campaigns in 1860 and 1864. In 1870 Pabor moved to Colorado, where he helped to establish Greeley, Fort Collins, and Colorado
Springs (Faith Barrett and Cristanne Miller, eds. Words for the Hour: A New Anthology of American Civil War Poetry [Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005], 388).
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