The Abington Abolitionist Poem by Jim Milks

Beneath the sheltering pines a boulder marks the spot
Where the abolitionist came to address the crowds
Here they stood with a single thought
To stand until the slaves were free

They did not assemble for fortune or fame
But to give a voice to the voiceless
And to the nameless a name

For twenty years they came
For twenty years they fought
Between what was right and what was not

“ I am in earnest - I will not equivocate –
I will not excuse - I will not retreat a single inch –
and I will be heard.'
Words of strength and words of power
Carved in stone, for the world to see
Protected by the trees and the flowers

Stand for what is right
Though those with the power and the might
Shall turn against you
And you will find strength you never knew

By the shores of the lake, in the shadow of the pine
Stands a marker, a reminder of a time
When good men stood for what was right
Stood in the face of those with power and the might

A playground now stands in the shadow of the stone
Where children play and are unaware
Of the men that stood against the might, alone


Annually between the years of 1846 and 1865 in a small town in Massachusetts a group of Abolitionist met. Men such as William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Edmund Quincy, Theodore Parker and others Suffered ridicule and abuse by those that felt there should be slavery. William Garrison died just a few short years after the Civil War having seen his dream of freedom for the slaves come true.


© JPM 10/13/08