And oft the blessed time foretells Their falling chains shall be. And following her beloved Lord, In decent poverty, She makes her life one sweet record And deed of charity. For she was rich, and gave up all Long since beyond the Southern Sea Their outbound sails have sped, While she, in meek humility, Now earns her daily bread. It is their prayers, which never cease, That clothe her with such grace; Their blessing is the light of peace That shines upon her face. THE SLAVE IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. IN dark fens of the Dismal Swamp, The hunted Negro lay; He saw the fire of the midnight camp, And a bloodhound's distant bay. Where will-o'-the-wisps and glow-worms shine, Where waning mosses shroud the pine, Where hardly a human foot could pass, On the quaking turf of the green morass A poor old slave, infirm and lame; Great scars deformed his face; On his forehead he bore the brand of shame, All things above were bright and fair, On him alone was the doom of pain, And struck him to the earth. THE SLAVE SINGING AT MIDNIGHT. LOUD he sang the psalm of David! He, a Negro and enslaved, Sang of Israel's victory, Sang of Zion, bright and free. In that hour, when night is calmest, That I could not choose but hear, Songs of triumph, and ascriptions, And the voice of his devotion Paul and Silas, in their prison, But, alas! what holy angel THE WITNESSES. IN Ocean's wide domains, Half buried in the sands, Lie skeletons in chains, With shackled feet and hands. Beyond the fall of dews, Deeper than plummet lies, Float ships, with all their crews, No more to sink nor rise. There the black Slave-ship swims, These are the bones of Slaves; Within, Earth's wide domains Are markets for men's lives; Their necks are galled with chains, Their wrists are cramped with gyves. Dead bodies, that the kite In deserts makes its prey; Murders, that with affright All evil thoughts and deeds; The foulest, rankest weeds, That choke Life's groaning tide! These are the woes of Slaves; |