The Negro Boy

The Negro Boy

An African Prince on his arrival in England being asked what he had given for his watch, answered, "What I would never give again - I gave a fine boy."

When avarice enslaves the mind,

And selfish views alone bear away,

Man turns a savage to his kind,

And blood and rapine mark his way.

    Alas for this poor simple toy,

    I sold a blooming negro boy.


His father's hope, his mother's pride,

Tho' black, yet comely to the view;

I tore him helpless from their side,

And gave him to a ruffian crew;

    To fiends that Afric's coast annoy,

    I sold the blooming negro boy.


From country, friends, and parents torn,

His tender limbs in chains confin'd,

I saw him o'er the billows borne,

And mark'd his agony of mind.

    But still to gain the simple toy

    I gave away the negro boy.


In Isles that deck the western wave,

I doom'd the hapless youth to dwell,

A poor, forlorn, insulted slave,

A beast that christians buy and sell;

    And in their cruel tasks employ

    The much enduring negro boy.


His wretched parents long shall mourn,

Shall long explore the distant main,

In hopes to see the youth return,

But all their hopes and sighs are vain.

    They never shall the sight enjoy

    Of their lamented negro boy.


Beneath a tyrant's harsh command,

He wears away his youthful prime,

Far distant from his native land,

A stranger in a foreign clime.

    No pleasing thoughts his mind employ,

    A poor dejected negro boy.


But he who walks upon the wind,

Whose voices in thunder's heard on high

Who doth the raging tempest bind,

Or wings the lightning thro' the sky;

    In his own time will sure destroy,

    The afflictions of the negro boy.

Unattributed

1:34, p. 136

1827.11.02