| Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893. | | | | Poems on Slavery | | The Warning |
| | | 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 | 5 |
| A pander to Philistine revelry,— | |
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| 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; | 10 |
| The poor, blind Slave, the scoff and jest of all, | |
| Expired, and thousands perished in the fall! | |
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| 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, | 15 |
| And shake the pillars of this Commonweal, | |
| Till the vast Temple of our liberties | |
| A shapeless mass of wreck and rubbish lies. | | | | |
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