Poems Concerning the Slave Trade - Sonnet 2
SONNET II.
Why dost thou beat thy breast and rend thine hair,
And to the deaf sea pour thy frantic cries?
Before the gale the laden vessel flies;
The Heavens all-favoring smile, the breeze is fair;
Hark to the clamors of the exulting crew!
Hark, how their cannon mock the patient skies!
Why dost thou shriek, and strain thy red-swollen eyes,
As the white sail is lessening from thy view?
Go, pine in want, and anguish, and despair;
There is no mercy found in human-kind!
Go, Widow, to thy grave, and rest thee there:
But may the God of Justice bid the wind
Whelm that curst bark beneath the mountain,
And bless with liberty and death the Slave!
Why dost thou beat thy breast and rend thine hair,
And to the deaf sea pour thy frantic cries?
Before the gale the laden vessel flies;
The Heavens all-favoring smile, the breeze is fair;
Hark to the clamors of the exulting crew!
Hark, how their cannon mock the patient skies!
Why dost thou shriek, and strain thy red-swollen eyes,
As the white sail is lessening from thy view?
Go, pine in want, and anguish, and despair;
There is no mercy found in human-kind!
Go, Widow, to thy grave, and rest thee there:
But may the God of Justice bid the wind
Whelm that curst bark beneath the mountain,
And bless with liberty and death the Slave!
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