{
 "id": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper/signing-the-pledge",
 "title": "Signing the Pledge",
 "poet": "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper",
 "poet_slug": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Sketches of Southern Life",
 "book_slug": "sketches-of-southern-life",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 12,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1891,
  "venue": "Sketches of Southern Life, enlarged printing (1891)",
  "note": "Not in the 1872 first edition: the scan of that edition on disk does not contain it, while the 1891 printing does. Whether it appeared in a periodical between those dates has not been established.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69249",
   "https://archive.org/details/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_sketches-of-southern-life-1872"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-poems-on-miscellaneous-subjects-1857",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsonmiscellan00harp",
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-poems-1871",
   "https://archive.org/details/poems01harp",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69249",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007491600",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69248",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100774124",
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-poems-full-text-1895",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100488369",
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-idylls-of-the-bible-1901",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100319488",
   "https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican00payn",
   "https://archive.org/details/WeeklyAngloAfricanI",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1858-05-14_28_20",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000500702",
   "https://archive.org/details/undergroundrailr00stil",
   "https://archive.org/details/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_sketches-of-southern-life-1872",
   "https://archive.org/details/25th-annual-report-of-the-board-of-managers-of-the-home-etc",
   "https://archive.org/details/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_light-beyond-the-darkness",
   "https://archive.org/details/ame-church-review-1900-04"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 60,
  "n_stanzas": 15,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 44,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Do you see this cup⁠—this tempting cup⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Its sparkle and its glow?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I tell you this cup has brought to me",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A world of shame and woe.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Do you see that woman sad and wan?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "One day with joy and pride,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With orange blossoms in her hair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I claimed her as my bride.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And vowed that I would faithful prove",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till death our lives should part;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ve drenched her soul with floods of grief,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And almost crushed her heart.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Do you see that gray-haired mother bend",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beneath her weight of years?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ve filled that aged mother’s eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With many bitter tears.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Year after year for me she prays,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And tries her child to save;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ve almost brought her gray hairs down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In sorrow to the grave.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Do you see that boy whose wistful eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are gazing on my face?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ve overshadowed his young life",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With sorrow and disgrace.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He used to greet me with a smile,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His heart was light and glad;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ve seen him tremble at my voice,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ve made that heart so sad.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Do you see this pledge I’ve signed to-night?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My mother, wife, and boy",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall read my purpose on that pledge",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And smile through tears of joy.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To know this night, this very night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I cast the wine-cup down,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And from the dust of a sinful life",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lift up my manhood’s crown.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The faded face of my young wife",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With roses yet shall bloom,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And joy shall light my mother’s eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On the margin of the tomb.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I have vowed to-night my only boy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With brow so fair and mild,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall not be taunted on the streets,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And called a drunkard’s child.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Never again shall that young face",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whiten with grief and dread,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Because I’ve madly staggered home",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sold for drink his bread.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "This strong right arm unnerved by rum",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall battle with my fate;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And peace and comfort crown the home",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By drink made desolate.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Like a drowning man, tempest-tossed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Clings to a rocky ledge,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With trembling hands I’ve learned to grasp",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The gospel and the pledge.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A captive bounding from my chain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ve rent each hateful band,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And by the help of grace divine",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A victor hope to stand.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}