Fishers Of Men.

I had a dream, a varied dream:
    Before my ravished sight
The city of my Lord arose,
    With all its love and light.

The music of a myriad harps
    Flowed out with sweet accord;
And saints were casting down their crowns
    In homage to our Lord.


My heart leaped up with untold joy,
    Life's toil and pain were o'er;
My weary feet at last had found
    The bright and restful shore.

Just as I reached the gates of light,
    Ready to enter in,
From earth arose a fearful cry
    Of sorrow and of sin.

I turned, and saw behind me surge
    A wild and stormy sea;
And drowning men were reaching out
    Imploring hands to me.

And ev'ry lip was blanched with dread,
    And moaning for relief;
The music of the golden harps
    Grew fainter for their grief.

Let me return, I quickly said,
    Close to the pearly gate;
My work is with these wretched ones,
    So wrecked and desolate.

An angel smiled and gently said:
    This is the gate of life,
Wilt thou return to earth's sad scenes,
    Its weariness and strife,

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an African American abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer. Born free in Baltimore, Maryland, she was one of the first African American women to be published in the United States. She was active in social reform movements and used her poetry and prose to advocate for abolition and women's rights. Her best-known works include the poetry collection "Forest Leaves" and the novel "Iola Leroy."

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Burial Of Sarah.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Simple Poetry

Thank God For Little Children.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Simple Poetry

Truth.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Simple Poetry

The Building.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Signing The Pledge.

To comfort hearts that sigh and break,
    To dry the falling tear,
Wilt thou forego the music sweet
    Entrancing now thy ear?

I must return, I firmly said,
    The strugglers in that sea
Shall not reach out beseeching hands
    In vain for help to me.

I turned to go; but as I turned
    The gloomy sea grew bright,
And from my heart there seemed to flow
    Ten thousand cords of light.

And sin-wrecked men, with eager hands
    Did grasp each golden cord;
And with my heart I drew them on
    To see my gracious Lord.

Again I stood beside the gate.
    My heart was glad and free;
For with me stood a rescued throng
    The Lord had given me.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Go Work In My Vineyard.

Go work in my vineyard, said the Lord,
    And gather the bruised grain;
But the reapers had left the stubble bare,
    And I trod the soil in pain.

The fields of my Lord are wide and broad,
    He has pastures fair and green,
And vineyards that drink the golden light
    Which flows from the sun's bright sheen.

I heard the joy of the reapers' song,
    As they gathered golden grain;
Then wearily turned unto my task,
    With a lonely sense of pain.

Sadly I turned from the sun's fierce glare,
    And sought the quiet shade,
And over my dim and weary eyes
    Sleep's peaceful fingers strayed.

I dreamed I joined with a restless throng,
    Eager for pleasure and gain;
But ever and anon a stumbler fell,
    And uttered a cry...

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

The Refiner's Gold.

He stood before my heart's closed door,
    And asked to enter in;
But I had barred the passage o'er
    By unbelief and sin.

He came with nail-prints in his hands,
    To set my spirit free;
With wounded feet he trod a path
    To come and sup with me.

He found me poor and brought me gold,
    The fire of love had tried,
And garments whitened by his blood,
    My wretchedness to hide.

The glare of life had dimmed my eyes,
    Its glamour was too bright.
He came with ointment in his hands
    To heal my darkened sight.


He knew my heart was tempest-tossed,
    By care and pain oppressed;
He whispered to my burdened heart,
    Come unto me and rest.

He found me weary, faint and worn,
    On barren moun...

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

The Lost Bells.

Year after year the artist wrought
    With earnest, loving care,
The music flooding all his soul
    To pour upon the air.

For this no metal was too rare,
    He counted not the cost;
Nor deemed the years in which he toiled
    As labor vainly lost.

When morning flushed with crimson light
    The golden gates of day,
He longed to fill the air with chimes
    Sweet as a matin's lay.

And when the sun was sinking low
    Within the distant West,
He gladly heard the bells he wrought
    Herald the hour of rest.

The music of a thousand harps
    Could never be so dear
As when those solemn chants and thrills
    Fell on his list'ning ear.

He poured his soul into their chimes,
    And felt his toil repaid;
...

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

My Dream

In my dream, methought I trod,
Yesternight, a mountain road;
Narrow as Al Sirat's span,
High as eagle's flight, it ran.

Overhead, a roof of cloud
With its weight of thunder bowed;
Underneath, to left and right,
Blankness and abysmal night.

Here and there a wild-flower blushed,
Now and then a bird-song gushed;
Now and then, through rifts of shade,
Stars shone out, and sunbeams played.

But the goodly company,
Walking in that path with me,
One by one the brink o'erslid,
One by one the darkness hid.

Some with wailing and lament,
Some with cheerful courage went;
But, of all who smiled or mourned,
Never one to us returned.

Anxiously, with eye and ear,
Questioning that shadow drear,
Never hand in token stirr...

John Greenleaf Whittier

The Night Of Death.

Twas a night of dreadful horror, -
    Death was sweeping through the land;
And the wings of dark destruction
    Were outstretched from strand to strand

Strong men's hearts grew faint with terror,
    As the tempest and the waves
Wrecked their homes and swept them downward,
    Suddenly to yawning graves.

'Mid the wastes of ruined households,
    And the tempest's wild alarms,
Stood a terror-stricken mother
    With a child within her arms.

Other children huddled 'round her,
    Each one nestling in her heart;
Swift in thought and swift in action,
    She at least from one must part.

Then she said unto her daughter,
    "Strive to save one child from death."
"Which one?" said the anxious daughter,
    As she stood with b...

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper