Humanity, or the rights of nature, a poem in two books. By the author of sympathy [i.e. S. J. Pratt] |
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| I. |
| II. |
 | Humanity, or the rights of nature, a poem |  |
When the rude Chief his brave harangue began,
The Savage rose to Hero and to Man,
And when th'invader tore him from the soil,
Dear scene of all his pride, of all his spoil,
No artificial mockery of woe,
Or taught his cheek to change, his tears to flow;
With pious awe he kneel'd to kiss the ground,
And fondly press'd his sorrowing friends around,
“Oh! weeping Brothers! this our place of birth,
“Our fathers Ashes consecrate the earth;
“Should the foe drag us to a foreign shore,
“Those sacred ashes we can guard no more,
“The holy relicts as entomb'd they lay,
“Some wretch unhallow'd may usurp as prey,
“Leave, leave not thus our Sires to Christian rage,
“But ah! with filial wrath the conflict wage.”
The Savage rose to Hero and to Man,
And when th'invader tore him from the soil,
Dear scene of all his pride, of all his spoil,
No artificial mockery of woe,
Or taught his cheek to change, his tears to flow;
With pious awe he kneel'd to kiss the ground,
And fondly press'd his sorrowing friends around,
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“Our fathers Ashes consecrate the earth;
“Should the foe drag us to a foreign shore,
“Those sacred ashes we can guard no more,
“The holy relicts as entomb'd they lay,
“Some wretch unhallow'd may usurp as prey,
“Leave, leave not thus our Sires to Christian rage,
“But ah! with filial wrath the conflict wage.”
| Humanity, or the rights of nature, a poem | |