ODE I.. THE NEGRO'S PRAYER. 1. O SPIRIT! that rid'st in the whirlwind and storm, Whose voice in the thunder is fear'd, If ever from man, the poor indigent worm, The prayer of affliction was heard,--- If black man, as white, is the work of thy hand (And who could create him but thee?) Ah give thy command, Let it spread thro each land, That Afric's sad sons shall be free! 2. If, erst, when the man-stealer's treacherous guile From my Nicou's dear love, from the infantile smile Of my Aboo, to drag me along; If then, the wild anguish that pierced thro my heart Was seen in its horrors by thee, O ease my long smart, And thy sanction impart, That Afric, at last, may be free! 3. If while in the slave-ship, with many a groan, I wept o'er my sufferings in vain; While hundreds around me, reply'd to my moan, And the clanking of many a chain ; If then, thou but deign'st, with a pitying eye, Thy poor shackled creature to see; O thy mercy apply Afric's sorrows to dry, h And bid the poor Negro be free. 4. If here, as I faint in the vertical sun, And the scourge goads me on to my toil,No hope faintly soothing, when labour is done, Of one joy my lone heart to beguile ; If thou view'st me, great Spirit! as one thou hast made, my fate as dependent on thee;— And And the black man, at last, may be free. 5. Thus pray'd the poor Negro; with many a groan, Whole nations reecho'd the prayer; Heaven bent down its ear, and the fiat is known, Which Britain, in thunder shall bear. Yes hear it, ye Isles of the Westering deep! The Lords of the Ocean maintain, No traffic of blood Shall pollute the green flood, And freedom, for Afric shall reign. |