The Choir and The Oratory or Praise and Prayer. By Josiah Conder |
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THE LAST NIGHT OF SLAVERY. |
 | The Choir and The Oratory |  |
285
THE LAST NIGHT OF SLAVERY.
Let the floods clap their hands!
Let the mountains rejoice!
From our own native sands
Breathes the jubilant voice:
The sun that now sets on thy waves, Caribbee!
Shall gild with his rising the Isles of the Free.
Let the mountains rejoice!
From our own native sands
Breathes the jubilant voice:
The sun that now sets on thy waves, Caribbee!
Shall gild with his rising the Isles of the Free.
Let the islands be glad,
For their King in his might,
Who his glory has clad
With a garment of light,
In the waters the beams of his chambers hath laid,
And in the great waters his pathway has made.
For their King in his might,
Who his glory has clad
With a garment of light,
In the waters the beams of his chambers hath laid,
And in the great waters his pathway has made.
No more shall the deep
Lend its awe-stricken waves
In their caverns to steep
Its wild burden of slaves:
The Lord sitteth King;—sitteth King on the flood.
He heard, and hath answered the voice of their blood.
Lend its awe-stricken waves
In their caverns to steep
Its wild burden of slaves:
The Lord sitteth King;—sitteth King on the flood.
He heard, and hath answered the voice of their blood.
286
Oh, what of the night?
Doth the Crucifix bend?
When shall glimmer the light
This gross darkness to end?
Deep in the Pacific has sunk the last gleam
That o'er the dark horrors of bondage might stream.
Doth the Crucifix bend?
When shall glimmer the light
This gross darkness to end?
Deep in the Pacific has sunk the last gleam
That o'er the dark horrors of bondage might stream.
Brief, brief is the night
Of the tropical zone,
Ere a balance of light
Shall the darkness atone;
And thus for black ages may brightness return,
Nor fail till the dawn of eternity burn.
Of the tropical zone,
Ere a balance of light
Shall the darkness atone;
And thus for black ages may brightness return,
Nor fail till the dawn of eternity burn.
The sunlight must glance
On our freedom-girt shore,
Ere its splendours advance
Their blest ransom to pour.
Our rivers and vales must reflect the first glow,
That captives shall, freed from captivity, know.
On our freedom-girt shore,
Ere its splendours advance
Their blest ransom to pour.
Our rivers and vales must reflect the first glow,
That captives shall, freed from captivity, know.
287
Now fades on our sphere
The last vigilant star:
From moorland and mere
Rolls the mist-cloud afar;
And springs from the Levant a life-teeming ray,
To chase deeper shadows than midnight's away.
The last vigilant star:
From moorland and mere
Rolls the mist-cloud afar;
And springs from the Levant a life-teeming ray,
To chase deeper shadows than midnight's away.
Dispel the blue haze,
Golden fountain of morn!
With meridian blaze
The wide ocean adorn!
The sunlight has touched thy glad shores, Caribbee!
And day now illumines the Isles of the Free!
Golden fountain of morn!
With meridian blaze
The wide ocean adorn!
The sunlight has touched thy glad shores, Caribbee!
And day now illumines the Isles of the Free!
August 1, 1834.
| The Choir and The Oratory | |