 | Household Verses |  |
114
WHAT IS SLAVERY?
Hast thou ever asked thyself
What it is to be a slave?
Bought and sold for sordid pelf,
From the cradle to the grave!
What it is to be a slave?
Bought and sold for sordid pelf,
From the cradle to the grave!
'Tis to know the transient powers
E'en of muscle, flesh, and bone,
Cannot, in thy happiest hours,
Be considered as thine own:
E'en of muscle, flesh, and bone,
Cannot, in thy happiest hours,
Be considered as thine own:
But thy master's
goods and chattels,
Lent to thee for little more
Than to fight his selfish battles
For some bits of shining ore!
Lent to thee for little more
Than to fight his selfish battles
For some bits of shining ore!
115
'Tis to learn thou hast a heart,
Beating in that bartered frame,
Of whose ownership—no part
Thou canst challenge—but in name.
Beating in that bartered frame,
Of whose ownership—no part
Thou canst challenge—but in name.
For the curse of slavery crushes
Out the life-blood from its core;
And expends its throbbing gushes
But to swell another's store.
Out the life-blood from its core;
And expends its throbbing gushes
But to swell another's store.
God's best gift from heaven above,
Meant to make a heaven on earth,
Hallowing, humanizing love!
With the ties which thence have birth:—
Meant to make a heaven on earth,
Hallowing, humanizing love!
With the ties which thence have birth:—
These can never be his lot,
Who, like brutes, is bought and sold;
Holding such—as having not
On his own the spider's hold!
Who, like brutes, is bought and sold;
Holding such—as having not
On his own the spider's hold!
'Tis to feel, e'en worse than this,
If aught worse than this can be,
Thou hast shrined, for bale or bliss,
An immortal soul in thee!
If aught worse than this can be,
Thou hast shrined, for bale or bliss,
An immortal soul in thee!
116
But that this undying guest
Shares thy body's degradation,
Until slavery's bonds, unblest,
Check each kindling aspiration:
Shares thy body's degradation,
Until slavery's bonds, unblest,
Check each kindling aspiration:
And what should have been thy
light,
Shining e'en beyond the grave,
Turns to darkness worse than night,
Leaving thee a hopeless slave!
Shining e'en beyond the grave,
Turns to darkness worse than night,
Leaving thee a hopeless slave!
Such
is slavery! Couldst thou bear
Its vile bondage? Oh! my brother,
How, then, canst thou, wilt thou dare
To inflict it on another?
Its vile bondage? Oh! my brother,
How, then, canst thou, wilt thou dare
To inflict it on another?
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