Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BURY ME IN A FREE LAND, by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Make me a grave where'er you will Last Line: Is bury me not in a land of slaves. Subject(s): Freedom; Slavery; Liberty; Serfs | ||||||||
Make me a grave where'er you will, In a lowly plain, or a lofty hill, Make it among earth's humblest graves, But not in a land where men are slaves. I could not rest if around my grave I heard the steps of a trembling slave: His shadows above my silent tomb Would make it a place of fearful gloom. I could not rest if I heard the tread Of a coffle gang to the shambles led, And the mother's shriek of wild despair Rise like a curse on the trembling air. I could not sleep if I saw the lash Drinking her blood at each fearful gash, And I saw her babes torn from her breast, Like trembling doves from their parent nest. I'd shudder and start if I heard the bay Of blood-hounds seizing their human prey. And I heard the captive plead in vain As they bound afresh his galling chain. If I saw young girls from their mother's arms Bartered and sold for their youthful charms, My eye would flash with a mournful flame, My death-paled cheek grow red with shame. I would sleep, dear friends, where bloated might Can rob no man of his dearest right; My rest shall be calm in any grave Where none can call his brother a slave. I ask no monument, proud and high To arrest the gaze of the passers-by; All that my yearning spirit craves, Is bury me not in a land of slaves. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JOY IN THE WOODS by CLAUDE MCKAY ELIZABETH KECKLEY: 30 YEARS A SLAVE AND 4 YEARS IN THE WHITE HOUSE by E. ETHELBERT MILLER EMANCIPATION by ELIZABETH ALEXANDER JOHN BROWN'S BODY by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET A DOUBLE STANDARD by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER AN APPEAL TO MY COUNTRYWOMEN by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER |
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