Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, I WOULD NOT LIVE ALWAYS, by JOHN PIERPONT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

I WOULD NOT LIVE ALWAYS, by                     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...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net