Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE TWILIGHT HOUR, by JOSHUA MCCARTER SIMPSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE TWILIGHT HOUR, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As I sat one evening in sweet meditation
Last Line: The captive from bondage, will shortly release.
Subject(s): Emancipation Movement & Proclamation; Antislavery Movement - United States


As I sat one evening in sweet meditation,
My mind not encompassed by land or by sea;
I soon was amused by a sweet conversation,
Of Nature, while boasting herself to be free.

"I am free," said the stream, while the chrystaline fountain
Came dancing its bubbles along by my feet;
"I was free from my birth, and I came from the mountain,
And now I am going the old ocean to greet."

"I am 'free,'" said the fish, "I can catch at the bubble,
And if there a worm should happen to be,
I make him my supper, and it costs me no trouble,
For God has created me happy and free."

"We are free," said the Nightingales, joining their chorus;
(While over me gently they poised on the wing;)
Our parents and kinsmen were all free before us,
And we will the anthems of liberty sing.

"I am free," said the breeze, loaded down with sweet odour,
As it through the willows came rustling by.
"I can pass when I please, and return at my leisure;
The power of monarchs or kings I defy."

"I am free," said the bee, as from flower to flower,
It buzzed in pursuit of its evening store.
"I am happy though life is to me but an hour;
God gives me my freedom, and I ask for no more."

"I am free," said the lightning, while rending the Heavens;
"A sceptre I sway, over land and the sea;
To kill and to cure, to me it is given;
I act my own pleasure, I'm mighty and free."

Then, shouted all nature, with loud exultation;
The voice was re-echoed o'er mountain and plain;
"I am free as my Maker -- I'm queen of all nations,
But poor suffering mortals I love to sustain."

Part II

The white man united his voice in the chorus,
With jarring and discord, he sang to the glee.
Of heroes that fought and who bled long before us,
To purchase their offspring such sweet liberty.

I would have united in praise and devotion,
But ere a long tear could escape from my eye,
I thought of my brethren, a down-trodden nation,
Poor bondsmen, like brutes, they must suffer and die.

My soul I exclaimed, and is God thus ordaining,
From angels and nature perpetual praise;
While Africa's sons are in bondage complaining,
And dare not their voice to His Majesty raise?

Will not the Almighty descend in great power,
And bid the poor slave from captivity go?
Will he not his vengeance on slave-holders shower,
Until as a God they His power shall know?

Yea! now! even now is the "day star" arising;
The morning of freedom now dawns in the East.
The sun which illumins the eastern horizon,
The captive from bondage, will shortly release.





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