We ask not that the slave should lie,
As lies his master, at his ease,
Beneath a silken canopy,
Or in the shade of blooming trees.


We mourn not that the man should toil;
'T is nature's need-'t is God's decree;
But, let the hand that tills the soil,
Be, like the wind that fans it, free.


We ask not 'eye for eye'-that all,
Who forge the chain and ply the whip,
Should feel their torture-that the thrall
Should wield the scourge of mastership-


We only ask, O God, that they,
Who bind a brother, may relent:
But,
Great Avenger
, we do pray
That the wrong-doer may repent.

John Pierpont

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/prayer-of-the-abolitionist/