October 16th

Perhaps

You will rememberJohn Brown.

John Brown

Who took his gun,

Took twenty-one companions

White and Black,

Went to shoot your way to freedom

Where two rivers meet

And the hills of the

North

And the hills of the

South

Look slow at one another-

And died

For your sake.

Now that you are

Many years free,

And the echo of the Civil War

Has passed away,

And Brown himself

Has long been tried at law,

Hanged by the neck,

And buried in the ground-

Since Harpers Ferry

Is alive with ghosts today,

Immortal raiders

Come again to town-

Perhaps

You will recall

John Brown.

Langston Hughes