Back Aa

Ontario Readers Third Book, The

Close

<h2>THE SLAVE'S DREAM</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> Beside the ungathered rice he lay, His sickle in his hand; His breast was bare, his matted hair Was buried in the sand. Again, in the mist and shadow of sleep, He saw his Native Land. </div> <div class="stanza"> Wide through the landscape of his dreams The lordly Niger flowed; Beneath the palm trees on the plain Once more a king he strode; And heard the tinkling caravans Descend the mountain road. </div> <div class="stanza"> He saw once more his dark-eyed queen Among her children stand; They clasped his neck, they kissed his cheeks, They held him by the hand!— A tear burst from the sleeper's lids And fell into the sand. </div> <div class="stanza"> And then at furious speed he rode Along the Niger's bank; His bridle-reins were golden chains, And, with a martial clank, At each leap he could feel his scabbard of steel Smiting his stallion's flank. </div> <div class="stanza"> Before him, like a blood-red flag, The bright flamingoes flew; From morn till night he followed their flight, O'er plains where the tamarind grew, Till he saw the roofs of Caffre huts, And the ocean rose to view. </div> <div class="stanza"> At night he heard the lion roar, And the hyena scream, And the river-horse, as he crushed the reeds, Beside some hidden stream; And it passed, like a glorious roll of drums, Through the triumph of his dream. </div> <div class="stanza"> The forests, with their myriad tongues, Shouted of liberty; And the Blast of the Desert cried aloud, With a voice so wild and free, That he started in his sleep and smiled At their tempestuous glee. </div> <div class="stanza"> He did not feel the driver's whip, Nor the burning heat of day; For Death had illumined the Land of Sleep, And his lifeless body lay A worn-out fetter, that the soul Had broken and thrown away! </div> </div> Longfellow <hr style="width: 65%;" /> Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. Bacon <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2