Classic and Contemporary Poetry
I WOULD NOT LIVE ALWAYS, by JOHN PIERPONT Poet's Biography First Line: I would not live always; I ask not to stay Last Line: And, free from his master, the slave be at peace. Subject(s): Abolitionists; Slavery; Anti-slavery; Serfs | ||||||||
I would not live always; I ask not to stay, Where I must bear the burden and heat of the day: Where my body is cut with the lash or the cord, And a hovel and hunger are all my reward. I would not live always, where life is a load To the flesh and the spirit: -- since there's an abode For the soul disenthralled, let me breathe my last breath, And repose in thine arms, my deliverer, Death! -- I would not live always to toil as a slave: O no, let me rest, though I rest in my grave; For there, from their troubling, the wicked shall cease, And, free from his master, the slave be at peace. | 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 ON LAYING THE CORNER-STONE OF THE BUNKER HILL MOMUMENT by JOHN PIERPONT |
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