{
 "id": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper/simons-countrymen",
 "title": "Simon’s Countrymen",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper",
 "poet_slug": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poetry",
 "book_slug": null,
 "book_kind": "compilation",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1901,
  "venue": "Idylls of the Bible (1901)",
  "note": "Located in the scan on disk under the heading SIMON’S COUNTRYMEN. First located printing. Idylls of the Bible (Philadelphia: 1006 Bainbridge Street, 1901) is a late gathering of work written over decades, so an earlier printing is likely and has not been located here; the poem is not in the 1857, 1871, 1872/1891, 1895, 1896, 1898 or 1900 volumes on disk.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/idyllsofbible00harp"
  ]
 },
 "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": 72,
  "n_stanzas": 18,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 44,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "They took away his seamless robe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With thorns they crowned his head,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As harshly, fiercely cried his foes:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Barabbas in his stead.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The friends he loved unto the end,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who shared his daily bread,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Before the storms of wrath and hate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Forsook their Lord and fled.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To rescue men from death and sin",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He knew the awful cost.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As wearily he bent beneath",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The burden of the cross.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When Pilate had decreed his fate.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Jews withheld their aid,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Then Simon, the Cyrenean, came:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On him the cross was laid.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Not his to smite with cruel scorn,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor mock the dying one,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That helpful man came from the land",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Kissed by the ardent sun⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The land within whose sheltering arms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The infant Jesus lay",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When Herod vainly bared his sword",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sought the child to slay.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Amid the calendar of saints",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We Simon’s name may trace,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "On history’s page thro’ every age",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He bears an honored place.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He little knew that cross would change",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unto a throne of light;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The crown of thorns upon Christ’s brow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Would be forever bright.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Beneath the shadow of that cross",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Brave men wdth outstretched hands",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Have told the wondrous tale of love",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In distant heathen lands.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And yet within our favored land,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where Christian churches rise,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The dark-browed sons of Africa",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are hated and despised.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Can they who speak of Christ as King,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And glory in his name,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Forget that Simon’s countiymen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Still bear a cross of shame?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Can they forget the cruel scorn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Men shower on a race",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Who treat the hues their Father gives",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As emblems of disgrace?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Will they erect to God their fanes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Christ with honor crown,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And then with cruel weights of pain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The African press down?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Oh, Christians, when we faint and bleed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In this our native land,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Reach out to us when peeled, opprest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A kindly helping hand,",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And bear aloft that sacred cross,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bright from the distant years,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And say for Christ’s and Simon’s sake,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’ll wipe away your tears.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For years of sorrow, toil and pain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’ll bring you love and light,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And in the name of Christ our Lord",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’ll make your pathway bright.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "That seamless robe shall yet enfold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The children of the sun,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till rich and poor and bond and free",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Christ shall all be one.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And for his sake from pride and scorn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Our spirits shall be free,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till through our souls shall sound the words",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He did it unto me.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}