Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, POEMS ON THE SLAVE TRADE: 4, by ROBERT SOUTHEY



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POEMS ON THE SLAVE TRADE: 4, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Tis night the mercenary tyrants sleep
Last Line: And weeps for him who will return no more.
Subject(s): Abolitionists; Slavery; Anti-slavery; Serfs


'Tis night; the mercenary tyrants sleep
As undisturbed as justice! but no more
The wretched slave, as on his native shore,
Rests on his reedy couch: he wakes to weep!
Though through the toil and anguish of the day
No tear escaped him, not one suffering groan
Beneath the twisted thong, he weeps alone
In bitterness; thinking that far away
Though the gay negroes join the midnight song,
Though merriment resounds on Niger's shore,
She whom he loves far from the cheerful throng
Stands sad, and gazes from her lowly door
With dim grown eye, silent and woe-begone,
And weeps for him who will return no more.





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