For she was rich, and gave up

To break the iron bands

Of those who waited in her hall,
And labored in her lands.

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.

281

IN laik fens of the Dismal Swamp
The hunted Negro lay;

He saw the fire of the midnight camp.

And heard at times a horse's tramp

And a bloodhound's distant bay.

Where will-o'-the wisps and glowworms shine, In bulrush and in brake;

Where waving mosses shroud the pine,
And the cedar grows, and the poisonous vine
Is spotted like the snake;

THE SLAVE IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 283 Where hardly a human foot could pass.

Or a human heart would dare,

On the quaking turf of the green morass
He crouched in the rank and tangled

grass

Like a wild beast in his lair.

A poor old slave, infirm and lame;

Great scars deformed his face;

On his forehead he bore the brand of shame. And the rags, that hid his mangled frame, Were the livery of disgrace.

All things above were bright and fair,
All things were glad and free;
Lithe squirrels darted here and there,
And wild birds filled the echoing air
With songs of Liberty!

POEMS ON SLAVERY.

284

On him alone was the doom of pain.

From the morning of his birth; On him alone the curse of Cain

Fell, like a flail on the garnered grain,

And struck him to the earth i

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,
Sang he from the Hebrew Psalmist
In a voice so sweet and clear
That I could not choose but hear.

Songs of triumph, and ascriptions,
Such as reached the swart Egyptians,
When upon the Red Sea coast
Perished Pharaoh and his host.