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Poems by a Slave-George Moses Horton · Sense and Sensibility

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  Speaker 1: Explanation and preface of Poems by a Slave. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Read by Elsie Selwyn. Poems by a Slave by George
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  Speaker 1: Moses Horton. Explanation and preface to the second edition explanation. George,
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  Speaker 1: who is the author of the following poetical effusions, is
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  Speaker 1: a slave the property of mister James Horton of Chatham County,
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina. He has been in the habit some years
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  Speaker 1: past of producing poetical pieces, sometimes unsuggested subjects, to such
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  Speaker 1: persons as would write them while he dictated. Several compositions
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  Speaker 1: of his have already appeared in the Raleigh Register. Some
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  Speaker 1: have made their way into the Boston newspapers, and have
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  Speaker 1: evoked expressions of approbation and surprise. Many persons have now
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  Speaker 1: become much interested in the promotion of his prospects, some
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  Speaker 1: of whom are elevated in office in literary attainments. They
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  Speaker 1: are solicitous that efforts at length be made to obtain
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  Speaker 1: by subscription a sum sufficient for his emancipation, upon the
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  Speaker 1: condition of his going in the vessel which shall first
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  Speaker 1: afterwards sail for Liberia. It is his earnest and only
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  Speaker 1: wish to become a member of that colony, to enjoy
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  Speaker 1: its privileges, and apply his industry and mental abilities to
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  Speaker 1: the promotion of its prospects and his own. It is
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  Speaker 1: upon these terms alone that the efforts of those who
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  Speaker 1: befriend his views are intended to have a final effect
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  Speaker 1: to put the trial the plan here urged in his behalf.
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  Speaker 1: The paper now exhibited is published. Several of his productions
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  Speaker 1: are contained in the succeeding pages. Many more might have
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  Speaker 1: been added, which would have swelled into a larger size.
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  Speaker 1: They would doubtless be interesting to many. But it is
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  Speaker 1: hoped that the specimens here inserted will be sufficient to
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  Speaker 1: accomplish the object of the publication. Expense will thus be avoided,
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  Speaker 1: and the money better employed in enlarging the sum applicable
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  Speaker 1: for his emancipation. It is proposed that in every town
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  Speaker 1: or vicinity where contributions are made, they may be put
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  Speaker 1: into the hands of some person who will humanely consent
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  Speaker 1: to receive them, and give notice to mister Weston r.
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  Speaker 1: Gales and Raleigh of the amount collected. As soon as
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  Speaker 1: it is ascertained that the collections will accomplish the object,
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  Speaker 1: it is expected that they will be transmitted without delay
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  Speaker 1: to mister West in our Gales. But should they ultimately
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  Speaker 1: prove insufficient, they will be returned to subscribers. None will
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  Speaker 1: imagine it possible that pieces produced as these have been
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  Speaker 1: should be free from blemish in composition or taste. The
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  Speaker 1: author is now thirty two years of age, and has
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  Speaker 1: always labored in the field on his master's farm, promiscuously
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  Speaker 1: with a few others which mister owns, in circumstances of
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  Speaker 1: the greatest possible simplicity. His master says he knew nothing
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  Speaker 1: of his poetry, but as he heard of it from others.
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  Speaker 1: George knows how to read, and is now learning to write.
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  Speaker 1: All his pieces are written down by others, and his reading,
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  Speaker 1: which is done at night, and that the usual intervals
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  Speaker 1: allowed to slaves, has been much employed on poetry such
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  Speaker 1: as he could procure, this being a species of composition
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  Speaker 1: most interesting to him. It is thought best to print
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  Speaker 1: his productions without correction, that the mind of the reader
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  Speaker 1: may be in no uncertainty as to the originality and
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  Speaker 1: genuineness of every part. We shall conclude this account of
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  Speaker 1: George with an assurance that he has been ever a faithful,
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  Speaker 1: honest and industrious slave, that his heart has felt deeply
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  Speaker 1: and sensitively in this lowest possible condition of human nature,
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  Speaker 1: will easily be believed, and is impressively confirmed by one of
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  Speaker 1: his stanzas, come melting pity from afar, and break this
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  Speaker 1: vast enormous bar between a wretch and the purchase a
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  Speaker 1: few short days of time, and bid of vassalsore sublime.
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  Speaker 1: On Wings of Liberty, Raleigh, July second, eighteen twenty nine,
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  Speaker 1: Preface to the second edition of these poems. The present
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  Speaker 1: publisher has never seen or heard of but one copy,
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  Speaker 1: which was recently obtained by Joshua Coffin of the City,
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  Speaker 1: from a gentleman who met with it in Cincinnati a
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  Speaker 1: few years ago. The pamphlet is republished without any alterations
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  Speaker 1: even verbal, except the insertion of the headline Poems by
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  Speaker 1: a Slave over the pages, and the omission of the
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  Speaker 1: title page, which ran as follows. The Hope of Liberty,
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  Speaker 1: containing a number of poetical pieces by George M. Horton, Raleigh,
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  Speaker 1: Printed by Gails and Son, eighteen twenty nine, observe first
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  Speaker 1: that Gales, the printer of the pamphlet, is now one
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  Speaker 1: of the firm of Gail's and Seas at Washington, no abolitionist. Second,
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  Speaker 1: the publisher admits slavery to be quote the lowest possible
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  Speaker 1: condition of human nature end quote, and that the slaves
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  Speaker 1: are not all happy for George quote felt deeply and
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  Speaker 1: sensitively end quote. Third, the man who could write such
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  Speaker 1: poems was kept for thirty two years in quote the
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  Speaker 1: lowest possible condition of human nature end quote, and was
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  Speaker 1: to remain there if he would not consent to go
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  Speaker 1: to Liberia. Whether the poems sold for sufficient to buy
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  Speaker 1: this man so dangerous to Southern institutions and export him,
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  Speaker 1: I have not been able to ascertain. Perhaps George is
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  Speaker 1: still a slave? L. C. G. Philadelphia, September eighteen thirty seven.
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  Speaker 1: Immediately after the present edition was issued, the following letter
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  Speaker 1: was put into my hands. Publisher, Washington, September twelfth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: thirty seven. Dear Sir, I have inquired of mister Gales.
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  Speaker 1: Agreeably to your request to ascertain the present condition of
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  Speaker 1: George M. Horton, he informs me that he is still
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  Speaker 1: the slave of James Horton of Chatham County, and is
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  Speaker 1: employed as a servant at Chapel Hill, the seat of
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  Speaker 1: the University of North Carolina. It is understood by mister
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  Speaker 1: g that he did not derive much pecuniary profit from
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  Speaker 1: the publication of his poems, and that since the death
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  Speaker 1: of his patron, the late Doctor Caldwell, President of the University,
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  Speaker 1: he has attended to other occupations. I am yours truly,
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  Speaker 1: mister Joshua Coffin. End of explanation and preface read by
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  Speaker 1: Elsie Selwyn, Section one of Poems by a Slave by
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  Speaker 1: George Moses Horton. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Read by Elsie Selwyn. Praise of Creation. Creation fires my tongue,
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  Speaker 1: Nature thy anthems rays and spread the universal song of
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  Speaker 1: thy Creator's praise. Heaven's chief delight was man before Creation's birth,
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  Speaker 1: ordained with joy to lead the van and rain the
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  Speaker 1: lord of Earth. When sin was quite unknown and all
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  Speaker 1: the woes it brought, he hailed the morn without a
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  Speaker 1: groan or one corroding thought. When each revolving wheel assumed
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  Speaker 1: its sphere. Sublime, submissive Earth then heard the peal and
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  Speaker 1: struck the march of time, The march in heaven begun,
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  Speaker 1: and splendor filled the skies. When wisdom bade the morning
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  Speaker 1: sun with joy from chaos rise. The angels heard the
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  Speaker 1: tune throughout creation ring. They seized their golden harps as
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  Speaker 1: soon and touched on every string. When time and space
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  Speaker 1: were young, and music rolled along the morning stars together,
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  Speaker 1: sun and heaven was drowned in song. Ye towering eagles
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  Speaker 1: soar and fan Creation's blaze, And Ye terrific lions roar
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  Speaker 1: to your creator's praise. Responsive thunders, roll loud acclamations, sound
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  Speaker 1: and show your maker's vast control over all the world's around.
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  Speaker 1: Stupendous mountains, smoke and lift your summits high to him
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  Speaker 1: who all your terrors woke, darkening the sapphire sky. Now
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  Speaker 1: let my muse descend to view the march below. Ye
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  Speaker 1: subterraneous worlds attend and bid your chorus flow. Ye vast
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  Speaker 1: volcanoes yell whence fiery cliffs are hurled, and all ye
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  Speaker 1: liquid oceans swell beneath the solid world. Ye cataracts combine,
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  Speaker 1: nor let the peons cease the universal concert join thou
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  Speaker 1: dismal press apiece. But halt, my feeble tongue, my weary
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  Speaker 1: muse delays, But oh my soul still flood along upon
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  Speaker 1: the flood of praise. End of section one Praise of
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  Speaker 1: Creation read by Elsie Selwyn, Section two of Poems by
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  Speaker 1: a Slave by George Moses Horton. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn on the
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  Speaker 1: silence of a young lady on account of the imaginary
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  Speaker 1: flight of her suitor, Oh heartless dove Mountain, the skies
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  Speaker 1: spread thy soft wing upon the gale, Or on thy
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  Speaker 1: sacred pinions rise nor brood with silence in the veil,
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  Speaker 1: breathe on the air, thy plaintive note, which oft has
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  Speaker 1: filled the lonesome grove, And let thy melting ditty float
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  Speaker 1: the dirge of long lamented love, coo softly to the
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  Speaker 1: silent ear, and make the floods of grief to roll,
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  Speaker 1: and cause by love the sleeping tear to wake with
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  Speaker 1: sorrow from the soul? Is it the loss of pleasures
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  Speaker 1: past which makes thee drop thy sounding wing? Does winter's
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  Speaker 1: rough inclement blast forbid thy tragic voice to sing? Is
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  Speaker 1: it because the fragrant breeze along the sky forbears to flow,
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  Speaker 1: nor whispers low amidst the trees, whilst all the valleys
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  Speaker 1: frown below. Why should a frown thy soul alarm and
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  Speaker 1: tear thy pleasures from thy breast, or veil the smiles
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  Speaker 1: of every charm and rob thee of thy peaceful rest.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps thy sleeping love may wake and hear thy penitential tone,
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  Speaker 1: and suffer not thy heart to break, Nor let a
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  Speaker 1: princess grieve alone. Perhaps as pity may return with equal
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  Speaker 1: feeling from the heart and breast with breast together never know,
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  Speaker 1: never more to part, never till death's resistless blow, whose
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  Speaker 1: call the dearest must obey. In twain together than may go,
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  Speaker 1: and thus together dwell for a say to the suitor,
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  Speaker 1: come away, nor break the knot which love has tied,
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  Speaker 1: Nor to the world thy trust, betray, and fly forever
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  Speaker 1: from thy bride. End of section two on the Silence
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  Speaker 1: of a Young Lady read by Elsie Sellen. Section three
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  Speaker 1: of Poems by a Slave by George Moses Horton. This
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Elsie
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  Speaker 1: Selwyn The Lover's Farewell, and wilt thou love my soul
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  Speaker 1: display and all my secret thoughts betray. I strove but
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  Speaker 1: could not hold thee. Fact at my heart flies off
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  Speaker 1: with thee at last, the favorite daughter of the dawn
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  Speaker 1: on love's mild breeze will soon be gone. I strove,
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  Speaker 1: but could not cease to love, nor from my heart
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  Speaker 1: the weight remove, and wilt thou love my soul. Beguile
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  Speaker 1: and gall thy favorite with a smile, nay, soft affection
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  Speaker 1: answers nay, and beauty wings my heart away. I steal
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  Speaker 1: on tiptoe from these bowers, all spangled with a thousand flowers.
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  Speaker 1: I sigh, yet leave them all behind to gain the
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  Speaker 1: object of my mind. And wilt thou love, command my
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  Speaker 1: soul and waft me with a light control. Adieu to
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  Speaker 1: all the blooms of May. Farewell, I fly with love away.
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  Speaker 1: I leave my parents here behind, and all my friends
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  Speaker 1: to love resign'd tis grief to go, but death to stay. Farewell,
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  Speaker 1: I am gone with love away. End of section three
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  Speaker 1: The Lover's Farewell, read by Elsie Selwyn, Section four of
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  Speaker 1: Poems by a Slave by George Moses Horton. This LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn
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  Speaker 1: on Liberty and slavery. Alas it am I born for this,
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  Speaker 1: to wear this slavish chain, deprived of all created bliss
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  Speaker 1: through hardship, toil and pain. How long have I in
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  Speaker 1: bondage lain and languished to be free? Alas, and must
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  Speaker 1: I still complain deprived of liberty? Oh? Heaven, and is
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  Speaker 1: there no relief? This sighed the silent grave, to soothe
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  Speaker 1: the pain, to acquall the grief and anguish of a slave.
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  Speaker 1: Come liberty, Thou, cheerful sound roll through my ravished ears. Come,
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  Speaker 1: Let my grief and joys be drowned, and drive away
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  Speaker 1: my fears, say unto foul oppression, cease, ye, tyrants, rage
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  Speaker 1: no more, and let the joyful trump of peace. Now
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  Speaker 1: bid the vassal soar, soar on the pinions of that
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  Speaker 1: dove which long has cooed for thee and breathed her
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  Speaker 1: notes from Afric's grove, the sound of liberty. O liberty, thou,
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  Speaker 1: golden prize so often sought by blood. We crave thy
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  Speaker 1: sacred son to rise the gift of Nature's God bids
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  Speaker 1: slavery hide her haggard face and barbarism fly I scorn
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  Speaker 1: to see the sad disgrace in which enslaved. I lie
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  Speaker 1: dear liberty upon thy breast. I languish to respire and
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  Speaker 1: light the swan unto her nest I to thy smiles, retire, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: blessed asylum, heavenly balm unto thy bows, I flee, and
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  Speaker 1: in thy shades the storm shall calm with songs of liberty.
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  Speaker 1: End of section four on Liberty and Slavery, read by
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  Speaker 1: Elsie Selwyn, Section five of Poems by a Slave by
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  Speaker 1: George Moses Horton. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Read by Elsie Selwyn to Eliza, Eliza, tell thy lover,
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  Speaker 1: why or what induced THEE to deceive me? Fare thee well? Away?
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  Speaker 1: I fly, I shun the lass, who thus will grieve me. Eliza,
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  Speaker 1: Still thou art my song. Although by force I may
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  Speaker 1: forsake thee, Fare thee well, for I was wrong to
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  Speaker 1: woo THEE, while another take thee. Eliza, pause and think, why,
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  Speaker 1: sweet Lass, I shall forget THEE, never fare thee well.
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  Speaker 1: Although I smile, I grieve to give THEE up forever, Eliza,
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  Speaker 1: I shall think of THEE. My heart shall ever twine
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  Speaker 1: about THEE. Fare thee well, but think of me compelled
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  Speaker 1: to live and die without THEE, fare THEE well, and
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  Speaker 1: if forever still forever fare THEE Well. End of section
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  Speaker 1: five read by Elsie Sellen, Section six of Poems by
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  Speaker 1: a Slave by George Moses Horton. This lirivox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn Love Whilst
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  Speaker 1: tracing thy visage, I sink an emotion for no other
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  Speaker 1: damsel so wondrous I see, thy looks are so pleasing,
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  Speaker 1: thy charm so amazing. I think of no other my
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  Speaker 1: true love but THEE. With heart burning rapture, I gaze
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  Speaker 1: on thy beauty and fly like a bird to the
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  Speaker 1: bows of the tree. Thy looks are so pleasing, thy
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  Speaker 1: charms so amazing. I fancy no other my true love,
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  Speaker 1: but THEE. Thus oft in the valley, I think an
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  Speaker 1: I wonder why cannot a maid with her lover agree.
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  Speaker 1: Thy looks are so pleasing, thy charms so amazing. I
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  Speaker 1: pine for no other my true love, but THEE. I'd
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  Speaker 1: fly from thy frowns with a heart full of sorrow.
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  Speaker 1: Return pretty damsel, and smile thou on me by every endeavor.
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  Speaker 1: I'll try THEE forever and languish until I am fancied
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  Speaker 1: by thee and of Love, read by Elsie Selwyn, Section
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  Speaker 1: seven of Poems by a Slave by George Moses Wharton.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
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  Speaker 1: Elsie Selwyn, on the Death of an Infant, Blest Babe,
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  Speaker 1: And at length has withdrawn the seraphs have rocked it
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  Speaker 1: to sleep away with an angelic smile, it has gone
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  Speaker 1: and left a sad parent to weep. It soars from
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  Speaker 1: the ocean of pain on breezes of precious perfume. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: be not discouraged when death is, but gain the triumph
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  Speaker 1: of life from the tomb with pleasure. I thought it
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  Speaker 1: my own. It smiled on its infantile charms. But some
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  Speaker 1: mystic bird, like an eagle, came down and snatched it
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  Speaker 1: away from my arms. Blest Babe, it ascends into heaven.
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  Speaker 1: It mounts with delight at the call, and flies to
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  Speaker 1: the bosom from whence it was given the parent and
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  Speaker 1: patron of all and of On the Death of an Infant,
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  Speaker 1: read by Elsie Selwyn, Section eight of Poems by a
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  Speaker 1: Slave by George Moses Hohrton. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn The Slave's Complaint.
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  Speaker 1: Am I sadly cast aside on misfortune's rugged tide? Will
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  Speaker 1: the world my pains deride? For ever? Must I dwell
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  Speaker 1: on slavery's night? And all pleasure take its flight far
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  Speaker 1: beyond my feeble sight. For ever, worst of all, must
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  Speaker 1: hope grow dim and withhold her cheering beam. Rather, let
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  Speaker 1: me sleep and dream forever. Something still my heart surveys,
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  Speaker 1: groping through this dreary maze. Is it hope? Then? Burn
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  Speaker 1: and blaze forever? Leave me not a wretch confined altogether,
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  Speaker 1: lame and blind, unto gross despair, consign'd for ever heaven
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  Speaker 1: and whom can I confide? Canst thou not? For all provide?
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  Speaker 1: Condescend to be my guide forever? And when this transient
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  Speaker 1: life shall end? Oh, may some kind eternal friend bid
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  Speaker 1: me from servitude as send forever. End of the Slave's Complaint,
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  Speaker 1: Read by Elsie Selwyn, Section nine of Poems by a
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  Speaker 1: Slave by George Moses Hohrton. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn on the Truth
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  Speaker 1: of the Savior. He and John the Baptist did not
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  Speaker 1: know who Christ the Lord could be, and bade his
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  Speaker 1: own disciples go the strange event to see. They said,
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  Speaker 1: art thou, the one of whom twas written long before?
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  Speaker 1: Is there another still to come? Who will all things restore?
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  Speaker 1: This is enough without a name, Go tell him what
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  Speaker 1: is done. Behold the feeble, weak and lame, with strength,
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  Speaker 1: rise up and run. This is enough. The blind now
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  Speaker 1: see the dumb hosannas sing devils far from his presence,
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  Speaker 1: flee as shades from morning's wing. See the distressed, all
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  Speaker 1: bathed in tears, prostrate before him fall A manual speaks,
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  Speaker 1: and Lazarus hears. The dead obeys his call. This is enough.
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  Speaker 1: The fig tree dies and withers at his frown. Nature
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  Speaker 1: her god must recognize and drop her flowery crown. At
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  Speaker 1: his command, the fish increase, and loaves of barley swell.
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  Speaker 1: Ye hungry, eat and hold your peace, and find a
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  Speaker 1: remnant still at his command, the water blushed, and all
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  Speaker 1: was turned to wine, and in redundance flowed afresh and
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  Speaker 1: owed its God divine. Behold the storms at his rebuke,
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  Speaker 1: all calm upon the sea. How can we for another
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  Speaker 1: look where none can work as he? This is enough.
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  Speaker 1: It must be God from whom the plagues are driven
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  Speaker 1: at whose command the mountain's nod and all the host
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  Speaker 1: of heaven and of on the Truth of the Savior,
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  Speaker 1: read by Elsie Selwyn, Section ten of Poems by a
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  Speaker 1: Slave by George Moses Horton. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn. On spring, Hail
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  Speaker 1: thou auspicious vernal dawn, Ye birds proclaim the winter is gone,
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  Speaker 1: Ye warbling minstrel sing, pour forth your tribute as ye rise,
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  Speaker 1: and thus salute the fragrant skies, the pleasing smiles of spring,
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  Speaker 1: who sweetly o thou harmless dove, and bid thy mate.
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  Speaker 1: No longer rove in cold hibernal veils. Let music rise
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  Speaker 1: from every tongue, whilst winter flies before the song, which
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  Speaker 1: floats on gentle gales. Ye, frozen streams dissolve and flow
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  Speaker 1: along the valley. Sweet and slow divested fields be gay, Ye,
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  Speaker 1: drooping forests bloom on high and raise your branches to
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  Speaker 1: the sky, And thus your charms display thou world of heat,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: thou vital source. The torpid insects feel thy force which
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: all with life supplies. Gardens and orchards richly bloom and
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: send a gale of sweet perfume to invite them as
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: they rise near where the crystal waters glide. The male
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: of birds escorts his bride and twitters on the spray.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: He mounts upon his active wing to hail the bounty
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: of the spring, the lavish pomp of May, inspiring month
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: of youthful love. How oft we in the peaceful grove
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: survey the flowery plume, or sit beneath the sylvan shade
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: where branches wave above the head, and smile on every
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: bloom exalted month. When thou art gone, may virtue then
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: begin the dawn of an eternal spring. May raptures kindle
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: on my tongue, and start a new eternal song, which
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: ne'er shall cease to ring end of on spring, Read
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: by Elsie Selwyn, Section eleven of Poems by a Slave
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: by George Moses Horton. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: public domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn. On summer Easterville, fire
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: begins to burn, the auburn fields of harvest rise the
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: tord flames again return, and thunders roll along the skies.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Perspiring cancer lifts his head and roars terrific from on high,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: whose voice. The timid creatures dread, from which they with
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: awe to fly. The night hawk ventures from his cell
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: and starts his note. In evening air, he feels the
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: heat his bosom swell, which drives away the gloom of fear. Thou,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: noisy insect, start thy drum, rise lamp like bugs to
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: light the train, and bid sweet Philammela, come and sound
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: in front the nightly strain. The bee begins her ceaseless
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: hum and doth with sweet exertions, rise and with delight.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: She stores her comb and well her rising stalk supplies.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Let sportive children well beware while sprightly frisking o'er the green,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: and carefully avoid the snare which lurks beneath the smiling scene.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: The mistress bird assumes her nest and broods in silence
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: on the tree her note to cease her wings. At rest,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: she patient waits her young to see. The farmer hastens
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: from the heat. The weary plow horse droops his head.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: The cattle all at noon retreat and ruminate beneath the shade.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: The burdened ox, with dauntless rage, flies heedless to the
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: liquid flood, from which he quoffs devoid of gage, regardless
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: of his driver's rod. Pomaceous orchards now expand their laden
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: branches o'er the lee, and with their bounty, fills the land.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: While plenty smiles on every tree on fertile borders near
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: the stream. Now gaze with pleasure and delight see loaded
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: vines with melons. Team tis paradise to human sight with
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: rapture view. The smiling fields adorn the mountain and the
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: plain each and the eve of autumn yields a large
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: supply of golden grain. End of On Summer, red by
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Elsie Selwyn, Section twelve of Poems by a Slave by
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: George Moses Horton. This LibriVox recording is in public domain.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Read by Elsie Selwyn. On Winter, when smiling Summer's charms
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: are past, the voice of music dies. Then Winter pours
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: his chilling blast from rough inclement skies. The pensive dove
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: shuts up her throat the larks forbear to soar or
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: raise one sweet, delightful note which charm the ear. Before
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: the screech owld peals her shivering tone upon the brink
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: of night. A sum sequestered child unknown, which feared to
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: come in sight the cattle all desert the field, and
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: eager seek the glades of naked trees which once did
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: yield their sweet and pleasant shades. The humming insects all
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: are still. The beatles rise no more. The constant tinkling
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: of the bell along the heath is o'er stern boreas
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: hurls each piercing gale with snow clad wings along, discharging
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: volleys mixed with hail, which chill the breeze of song
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: lo All the southern windows close. Whence spicy breezes roll,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: the herbage sinks in sad repose, and winter sweeps the whole. Thus,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: after youth, old age comes on and brings the frost
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: of time, and ere our vigor has withdrawn, we shed
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: the rose of prime Alas how quick it is the
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: case the scy on youth is grown, how soon it
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: runs its morning race, and beauty's sun goes down. The
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: autumn of declining years must blant the father's head, encumbered
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: with a load of cares, when youthful charms have fled.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: End of on Winter Red by Elsie Selwyn, Section thirteen
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: of Poems by a Slave by George Moses Horton. This
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Heavenly Love, eternal spring of boundless grace. It lifts the
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: soul above where God the Sun unveils his face and
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: shows that Heaven is love, Love that revolves through endless years,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Love that can never pall, Love which excludes the gloom
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: of fears, Love to whom God is all, Love which
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: can ransom every slave and set the prisoner free, gild
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: the dark horrors of the grave, and still the raging sea.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Let but the partial smile of Heaven upon the bosom
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: play the mystic sound of sins forgiven, can waft the
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: soul away. The pilgrim's spirits show this love. They often
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: and sore on high languish from this dim earth, to
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: move and leave the flesh to die. Sing O, my soul,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: rise up and run and leave this clay behind. Wing
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: thy swift flight beyond the sun, nor dwell in tense,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: confined and of heavenly love. Read by Elsie Sellen, Section
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: fourteen of Poems by a Slave by George Moses Horton.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Elsie Selwyn on the Death of Rebecca, Thou delicate blossom,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: thy short race is ended, thou sample of virtue and
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: prize of the brave. No more are thy beauties by
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: mortals attended. They now are but food for the worms
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: in the grave. Thou art gone to the tomb, whence
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: there is no returning, and left us behind in a
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: veil of suspense, in vain to the dust. Do we
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: follow thee morning? The same doleful trump will soon call
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: us all. Hence I view THEE now launched on Eternity's ocean.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Thy soul, how it smiles as it floats on the wave.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: It smiles as if filled with the softest emotion. But
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: look'st not behind on the frowns of the grave. The
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: messenger came from Afar to relieve THEE in this lonesome valley.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: No more shalt thou roam. Bright seraphs now stand on
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: the banks to receive THEE and cry, happy stranger, Thou
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: art welcome at home. Thou art gone to a feast,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: while thy friends are bewailing. O death is a song
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: to the poor ransom slave away with bright visions. The
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: spirit goes sailing and leaves the frail body to rest
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: in the grave, Rebecca is free from the pains of oppression.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: No friends could prevail with her longer to stay, she
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: smiles on the fields of eternal fruition, whilst death, like
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: a bridegroom, attends her away. She is gone in the whirlwind.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Useraph's attend her through Jordan's cold torrent her mantle in
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: a lave. She soars in the chariot, and earth falls
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: beneath her, resigned in a shroud to a peaceable grave.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: And of On the Death of Rebecca, read by Elsie Selwyn,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Section fifteen of Poems by a Slave by George Moses Horton.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Elsie Selwyn on Death, deceitful worm that undermines the clay,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: which slyly steals the thoughtless soul away, pervading neighborhoods with
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: sad surprise, Like sudden storms of wind and thought under rise,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: the sounding death watch lurks within the wall away some
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: unsuspecting soul to call the pendant. Willow droops her waving
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: head and sighing Zephyr's whisper of the dead. Methinks I
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: hear the doleful midnight knell, some parting spirit bids the
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: world farewell. The taper burns as conscious of distress, and
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: seems to show the living number less. Must a loved
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: daughter from her father part and grieve for one who
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: lies so near her heart? And must she for the
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: fatal loss? Bemoan or faint to hear his last departing groan, methinks,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: I see him speechless, gaze awhile, and on her drop
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: his last paternal smile, with gushing tears, closing his humid eyes.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: The last pulse beats, and in her arms he dies
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: with pallid cheeks. She lingers round his beard and heaves
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: farewell sigh with every tear, with sorrow. She consigns into
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: the dust and silent owns the fatal sentence. Just still,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: her sequestered mother seems to weep and spurns the balm
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: which constitutes her sleep. Her plaintive murmurs float upon the
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: gale and almost make the stubborn rocks bewail. O, what
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: is like the awful breach of death? Whose fatal stroke
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: inveyes the creature's breath? It bids the voice of desolation
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: roll and strikes the deepest awe within the bravest soul
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: and of on death read by Elsie Selwyn, Section sixteen
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: of Poems by a Slave by George Moses Horton. This
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by Elsie Selwyn.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: On the evening and morning, when evening bids the sun
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: to rest retire, unwearied Ether sets her lamps on fire,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: lit by one torch. Each is supplied in turn till
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: all the candles in the concave burn. The night hawk,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: now with his nocturnal tone, wakes up, and all the
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: owls begin to moan or he from dreary veils their
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: dismal song, whilst in the air the meteors play along
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: at length. The Silver Queen begins to rise and spread
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: her glowing mantle in the skies, and from the smiling
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: chambers of the east, invites the eye to her resplendent feast.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: What joy is this unto the rustic swain, who from
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the mountain surveys the moonlit plain, who, with the spirit
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: of a dauntless pan, controls his fleecy train and leads
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: the van or pensive muses on the water's side, which
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: pearling doth through green meanders glide with watchful care. He
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: broods his heart away till night is swallowed in the
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: flood of day. The meteors ceased to play that moves
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: the fleet inspecters from the murky grove's retreat. The prowling
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: wolf withdraws, which howled, so bold and bleeding flocks may
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: venture from the fold. The nighthawk's din deserts the shepherd's
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: ear succeeded by the huntsman's trumpet. Clear, Oh, come Diana,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: start the morning. Chase thou, ancient goddess of the hunting race.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Aurora's smiles adorned the mountain's brow. The peasant hums, delighted
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: at his plow and lo. The dairy maid salutes her
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: bounteous cow, and of on the Evening and Morning read
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: by Elsie Selwyn, Section seventeen of Poems by a Slave
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: by George Moses Horton this LibriVox recording as in the
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: public Domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn on the poetic muse.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Far far above this world, I soar and almost nature
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: lose aerial regions to explore with this ambitious muse. My
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: towering thoughts with pinions rise upon the gales of song
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: which waft me through the mental skies, with music on
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: my tongue. My muse is all on mystic fire, which
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: kindles in my breast to scenes remote she doth aspire
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: as never yet expressed. Wrapped in the dust, she scorns
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: to lie called by new charms away, Nor will she
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: e'er refuse to try such wonders to survey. Such is
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: the quiet bliss of soul. When in some calm retreat,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: where pensive thoughts like streamlets roll and render silence sweet,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: And when the vain, tumultuous crowd shakes comfort from my mind,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: my muse ascends above the cloud, then leaves the noise behind.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: With vivid flight. She mounts on high above the dusky maze,
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: and with a perspicacious eye, doth far above nature gaze
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: and of on the poetic muse Read by Elsie Sellen,
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: Section eighteen of Poems by a Slave by George Moses Horton.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Elsie Selwyn. Consequences of happy marriages hail happy pair from
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: whom such raptures rise, on whom I gaze with pleasure
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: and surprise from thy bright ray, as the gloom of
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: strife is driven for all. The smiles of mutual love
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: are heaven thris happy pair. No earthly joys excel thy
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: peaceful state. Their constant pleasures dwell which cheer the mind
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: and elevate the soul, whilst discord sinks beneath their soft control.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: The blaze of zeal extends from breast to breast, while
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Heaven supplies each innocent request and lo what fond regard.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Their smiles reveal attractive as the magnet to the steel.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Their peaceful life is all content and ease. They with
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: delight each other's strive to please each other's charms. They
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: only can admire whose bosoms burn with pure connubial fire.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: The indelible vestige of unblemished love must, hence a guide
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: to generations prove. Though virtuous partners molder in the tomb,
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: their light may shine on ages yet to come with
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: grateful tears. Their well spent day shall close when death,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: like evening, calls them to repose. Then mystic smiles may
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: break from deep disguise, like vesper's warts, transpiring in the
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: skies like constellations. Still their works may shine, and virtues
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: on extinguished blaze, divine. Happy are they whose race shall
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: end the same sweeter than odors. Is a virtuous name.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Such is the transcript of unfading grace, reflecting luster on
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: a future race. The virtuous, on this line delight to
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: tread in magnify the honors of the dead, who, like
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: a phoenix, did not burn in vain, incinerated to revive
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: again from whose exalted urn young love shall rise, exulting
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: from a funeral sacrifice. End of Consequences of Happy Marriages,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: read by Elsie Selwyn, Section nineteen of Poems by a
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: Slave by George Moses Horton. This LibriVox recording is in
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn, lines on hearing
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: of the intention of a gentleman to purchase the poet's freedom.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: When on life's ocean, first I spread my sail. I
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: then implored a mild, auspicious gale, and from the slippery
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: strand I took my flight and sought the peaceful haven
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: of delight. Tyrannic storms arose upon my soul, and dreadful
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: did their maddening thunders roll. The pensive muse was shaken
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: from her sphere, and hope it vanished in the clouds
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: of fear. At length a golden sun broke through the gloom,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: and from his smiles arose a sweet perfume. A calm ensued,
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: and birds began to sing and lo. The sacred muse
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: resumed her wing with frantic joy. She chanted as she flew,
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: and kissed the clement hands that bore her through her
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: envious foes did, from her sight to retreat or prostrate
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: fall beneath her burning feet. Twas like a proselyte allied
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: to heaven, arising spirits, boast of sins forgiven, whose shout
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: dissolves the adamant away, whose melting voice the stubborn rocks obey.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: Tis like the salutation of the dove borne on the
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: zephyr through some lonesome grove, when spring returns in winter's
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: chill is past, and vegetation smiles above the blast. Twas
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: like the evening of a nuptial pair when love pervades
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: the hour of sad despair. Tis like Fair Helen's sweet
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: return to Troy, when every Grecian bosom swelled with joy.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: The silent harp, which on the osures hung, was then
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: attuned and manumissions sung away by hope. The clouds of
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: fear were driven, and music breathed my gratitude to Heaven.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Hard was the race to reach the distant goal. The
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: needle oft was shaken from the pole. In such distress,
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: who could forbear to weep? Tossed by the headlong billows
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: of the deep, the tantalizing beams which shone so plain,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: which turned my former pleasures into pain, which falsely promised
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: all the joys of fame, gave way into a more
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: substantial flame. Some philanthropic souls, as from afar, with pity,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: strove to break the slavish bar, to whom my floods
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: of gratitude shall roll and yield with pleasure to their
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: soft control and sure of providence. This work begun he
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: shod my feet, this rugged race to run, and in
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: despite of all the swelling tide along the dismal path,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: will prove my guide. Thus on the dusky verge of
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: deep despair, eternal Providence was with me there when pleasure
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: seemed to fade on life's gay dawn, and the last
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: beam of hope was almost gone. End of lines read
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: by Elsie Selwyn. Section twenty of Poems by a Slave
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: by George Moses Horton this LibriVox recording, as in the
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: public domain read by Elsie Selwyn. To the gad fly
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: majestic insect from thy royal hum the flies retreat or
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: starve before they'll come. The obedient plow horse may devoid
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: of fear, perform his task with joy when thou art near,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: as at the lion's dread alarming roar, the inferior beasts
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: will never wander more, lest unawares, she should be seized
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: away and to the prowling monster fall a prey with
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: silent pleasure. Often do I trace the fly upon the
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: wing with rapid pace, The fugitive proclaims upon the wind,
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: the death bound sheriff is not behind Ye, thirsty flies beware,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: nor dare approach, Nor on the toiling animal encroach. Be
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: vigilant before you buzz too late, the victim of a
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: melancholy fate. Such seems the caution of the once chaste fly.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: Whilst to the horse she dare not venture nigh. This
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: useful gadfly traversing the field with care the laboring animal
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: to shield. Such is the eye of providential care along
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: the path of life forever there whose guardian hand. By day,
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: doth mortals keep and gently lays them down at night
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: to sleep. A mortal guard shall eye thy pleasures grieve.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: Let Noah's dove wilt thou the creature leave, no never, never,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: whilst on earth I stay, and after death, then fly
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: with me away and of to the gadfly. Read by
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: Elsie Sewn, Section twenty one of poem by a Slave
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: by George Moses Horton. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: public domain. Read by Elsie Selwyn. The loss of female
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: character See that fallen princess. Her splendor is gone, the
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: pomp of her mourning is over. Her day star of
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: pleasure refuses to dawn. She wanders in nocturnal rover alas
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: she resembles Jerusalem's fall, the fate of that wonderful city,
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: When grief with astonishment wrung from the wall instead of
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: the heart cheering ditty, when music was silence no more
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: to be wrung, When Sion wept over her daughter on
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: Grief's drooping willow, their harps they were hung with pendant
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: o'er Babylon's water. She looks like some star that has
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: fallen from her sphere no more by her clusters. Surrounded
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: her comrades of pleasure, refuse her to cheer, and leave
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: her dethroned in confounded. She looks like some queen who
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: has boasted in vain, whose diamond refuses to glitter, deserted
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: by those who once bowed in her train, whose flight
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: to her soul must be bitter. She looks like the
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: twilight her son sunk away. He sets, but to rise again,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: never like the eve, with a blush, bids farewell to
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: the day, and darkness conceals her forever. End of the
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Loss of Female Character read by Elsie Selwyn. End of
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: Poems by a Slave by George Moses Horton