Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

The Warning

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“The Warning” as printed in Poems on Slavery (1842).

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Lyrics Text 7 1842 · historical text
Public domainHistorical songAbolition song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from Poems on Slavery, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Beware! The Israelite of old, who tore

The lion in his path,—when, poor and blind,

He saw the blessed light of heaven no more,

Shorn of his noble strength and forced to grind

In prison, and at last led forth to be

A pander to Philistine revelry,—

Verse 2

Upon the pillars of the temple laid

His desperate hands, and in its overthrow

Destroyed himself, and with him those who made

A cruel mockery of his sightless woe;

The poor, blind Slave, the scoff and jest of all,

Expired, and thousands perished in the fall!

Verse 3

There is a poor, blind Samson in this land,

Shorn of his strength, and bound in bonds of steel,

Who may, in some grim revel, raise his hand,

And shake the pillars of this Commonweal,

Till the vast Temple of our liberties

A shapeless mass of wreck and rubbish lies.

Credits

Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Historical text published in Poems on Slavery (1842); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

Poems on Slavery (1842), “The Warning”

Every text in this 1842 collection is by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), who died more than 140 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-27. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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