University of Virginia Library

Ajax' Kindred's Soliloquy.

In Africa.

The thoughts of the future doth puzzle my mind,
And O'how I shudder at flitting of time;
It seems that it's hast'ning that dreadful day,
When no where in this dull earth I can stay.
The powers of Europe are taking my land,
And sifting it out at their own command.
They do not attempt to civilize me,
But use all their efforts to make me flee.
Where in this broad domain can I fly,
My body to rest and my mind satisfy?
That land called the Star Spangled Banner of free,
Toward which all the nations at one time did flee,
My countryman Ajax who dwells over there,
Relates that which straightens my sun kinked hair,
He tells me they lynch, tar and burn the Negro,
And mangle them worse than the cruel Nero,
He tells me to stay here and dodge the wild beast,
It's easier than being the lynchers' love feast,
The isles of the sea are all filled up they say,
I wish a new mountain would rise in a day;
The fox and the panther, the birds of the air,
They all have a home in this world somewhere,
The sun shines resplendent in its bright degree,
Dame nature is pleasant, all happy but me,
I long for the wings of the blue bird of flight,
To flee from this plain and in mid ocean light,
And there put an end to these heart-bleeding sighs,
And banish the tears from my long weeping eyes.
O God! is the time ever coming again
When I can see peace in this broad domain?
If not take me now in the palm of thy hand,
And fling me away from this blood-shedding land.
And if I don't land in thy mansions all fair,
Just fling me until I am nothing but air.
The lynchers, the lynchers are here by the throng!
My Savior, my Savior, O, why was I born.