Page:Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895).djvu/338

306   From the horror of that desert, from its atmosphere of hell, Turns the fainting spirit thither, as the diver seeks his bell.

’T is the fervid tropic noontime; faint and low the sea-waves beat; Hazy rise the inland mountains through the glimmer of the heat,—

Where, through mingled leaves and blossoms, arrowy sunbeams flash and glisten, Speaks her lover to the slave-girl, and she lifts her head to listen:—

“We shall live as slaves no longer! Freedom’s hour is close at hand! Rocks her bark upon the waters, rests the boat upon the strand!

“I have seen the Haytien Captain; I have seen his swarthy crew, Haters of the pallid faces, to their race and color true.

“They have sworn to wait our coming till the night has passed its noon, And the gray and darkening waters roll above the sunken moon!”

Oh, the blessed hope of freedom! how with joy and glad surprise, For an instant throbs her bosom, for an instant beam her eyes!

But she looks across the valley, where her mother’s hut is seen, Through the snowy bloom of coffee, and the lemon-leaves so green.

And she answers, sad and earnest: “It were wrong for thee to stay; God hath heard thy prayer for freedom, and His finger points the way.

“Well I know with what endurance, for the sake of me and mine, Thou hast borne too long a burden never meant for souls like thine.

“Go; and at the hour of midnight, when our last farewell is o’er, Kneeling on our place of parting, I will bless thee from the shore.

“But for me, my mother, lying on her sick-bed all the day, Lifts her weary head to watch me, coming through the twilight gray.

“Should I leave her sick and helpless, even freedom, shared with thee, Would be sadder far than bondage, lonely toil, and stripes to me.

“For my heart would die within me, and my brain would soon be wild; I should hear my mother calling through the twilight for her child!”

Blazing upward from the ocean, shines the sun of morning-time, Through the coffee-trees in blossom, and green hedges of the lime.

Side by side, amidst the slave-gang, toil the lover and the maid; Wherefore looks he o’er the waters, leaning forward on his spade?

Sadly looks he, deeply sighs he: ’t is the Haytien’s sail he sees, Like a white cloud of the mountains, driven seaward by the breeze!

But his arm a light hand presses, and he hears a low voice call: Hate of Slavery, hope of Freedom, Love is mightier than all.

Westminster’s royal halls, Robed in their pontificals, England’s ancient prelates stood For the people’s right and good.

Closed around the waiting crowd, Dark and still, like winter’s cloud;