Who is thy neighbour! See him stand,

with sunken cheek and eye,

where hunger shows the empty hand

thy bounty can supply!

Look where the widowed mother pines

for what thou well canst spare;

where paused age, in want, reclines,

and see thy neighbour there!

Behold him in the stranger, thrown

upon a foreign shore,

who, homeless, friendless, and alone,

is shivering at thy door!

Go meet him in thine enemy,

and good for evil pay;

and bear in mind, for such as he,

thy Saviour bids thee pray.

Go seek him in the dungeon’s night,

and comfort there impart;

implore the smile of Heaven to light

that desolated heart.

Look where the son of Africa sighs

for rights enjoyed by thee;

he is thy neighbour! Loose his ties

and set the captive free!

Columbia, favored of the skies!

how can thy banner wave,

while at my feet, thy neighbour lies

a crushed and fettered slave?

There is a blot among its stars;

a stain upon thy hand;

a mark upon thy face, that mars

the beauty of our land!

Thou, noble tree of liberty,

should not thy verdure fade

o’er him who would his neighbour see

excluded from thy shade?

Did they who reared thee by their toil

not will thy fruit to be,

alike, for all who thread thy soil,

a harvest sweet and free?

Hannah Flagg Gould. USA (1789-1865)