{
 "id": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper/the-present-age",
 "title": "The Present Age",
 "poet": "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper",
 "poet_slug": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Atlanta Offering: Poems",
 "book_slug": "atlanta-offering",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 4,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1895,
  "venue": "Atlanta Offering: Poems (1895)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69248"
  ]
 },
 "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": 76,
  "n_stanzas": 19,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 41,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Say not the age is hard and cold⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I think it brave and grand;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When men of diverse sects and creeds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are clasping hand in hand.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Parsee from his sacred fires",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beside the Christian kneels;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And clearer light to Islam’s eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The word of Christ reveals.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Brahmin from his distant home",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Brings thoughts of ancient lore;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The Buddhist breaking bonds of caste",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Divides mankind no more.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The meek-eyed sons of far Cathay",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are welcome round the board;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Not greed, nor malice drives away",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These children of our Lord.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And Judah from whose trusted hands",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came oracles divine;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Now sits with those around whose hearts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The light of God doth shine.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Japan unbars her long sealed gates",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From islands far away;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Her sons are lifting up their eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To greet the coming day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Indian child from forests wild",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Has learned to read and pray;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The tomahawk and scalping knife",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From him have passed away.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "From centuries of servile toil",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Negro finds release,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And builds the fanes of prayer and praise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unto the God of Peace.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "England and Russia face to face",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With Central Asia meet;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And on the far Pacific coast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Chinese and natives greet.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Crusaders once with sword and shield",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Holy Land to save;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "From Muslim hands did strive to clutch",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The dear Redeemer’s grave.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A battle greater, grander far",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is for the present age;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A crusade for the rights of man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To brighten history’s page.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Where labor faints and bows her head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And want consorts with crime;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Or men grown faithless sadly say",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That evil is the time.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There is the field, the vantage ground",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For every earnest heart;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To side with justice, truth and right",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And act a noble part.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To save from ignorance and vice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The poorest, humblest child;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To make our age the fairest one",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On which the sun has smiled;",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To plant the roots of coming years",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In mercy, love and truth;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And bid our weary, saddened earth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Again renew her youth.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Oh! earnest hearts! toil on in hope,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Till darkness shrinks from light;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To fill the earth with peace and joy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let youth and age unite;",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To stay the floods of sin and shame",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That sweep from shore to shore;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And furl the banners stained with blood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Till war shall be no more.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Blame not the age, nor think it full",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of evil and unrest;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But say of every other age,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“This one shall be the best.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The age to brighten every path",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By sin and sorrow trod;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For loving hearts to usher in",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The commonwealth of God.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}