Slave In The Dismal Swamp

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h2>THE SLAVE IN THE DISMAL SWAMP.</h2> <div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> <div class="verse i0">In dark fens of the Dismal Swamp</div> <div class="verse i2">The hunted Negro lay;</div> <div class="verse i0">He saw the fire of the midnight camp,</div> <div class="verse i0">And heard at times a horse's tramp</div> <div class="verse i2">And a bloodhound's distant bay.</div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="verse i0">Where will-o'-the-wisps and glowworms shine,</div> <div class="verse i2">In bulrush and in brake;</div> <div class="verse i0">Where waving mosses shroud the pine,</div> <div class="verse i0">And the cedar grows, and the poisonous vine</div> <div class="verse i2">Is spotted like the snake;<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</SPAN></span></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="verse i0">Where hardly a human foot could pass,</div> <div class="verse i2">Or a human heart would dare,</div> <div class="verse i0">On the quaking turf of the green morass</div> <div class="verse i0">He crouched in the rank and tangled grass,</div> <div class="verse i2">Like a wild beast in his lair.</div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="verse i0">A poor old slave, infirm and lame;</div> <div class="verse i2">Great scars deformed his face;</div> <div class="verse i0">On his forehead he bore the brand of shame,</div> <div class="verse i0">And the rags, that hid his mangled frame,</div> <div class="verse i2">Were the livery of disgrace.</div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="verse i0">All things above were bright and fair,</div> <div class="verse i2">All things were glad and free;</div> <div class="verse i0">Lithe squirrels darted here and there,</div> <div class="verse i0">And wild birds filled the echoing air</div> <div class="verse i2">With songs of Liberty!<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</SPAN></span></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="verse i0">On him alone was the doom of pain,</div> <div class="verse i2">From the morning of his birth;</div> <div class="verse i0">On him alone the curse of Cain</div> <div class="verse i0">Fell, like a flail on the garnered grain,</div> <div class="verse i2">And struck him to the earth!</div> </div></div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />