Page:Fisher's drawing room scrap book; with poetical illustrations by L.E.L (1832).djvu/93



was a king in Africa,
 * He had an only son;

And none of Europe's crowned kings
 * Could have a dearer one.

With good cane arrows five feet long,
 * And with a shining bow.

When but a boy, to the palm woods
 * Would that young hunter go.

And home he brought white ivory,
 * And many a spotted hide;

When leopards fierce and beautiful
 * Beneath his arrows died.

Around his arms, around his brow,
 * A shining bar was rolled;

It was to mark his royal blood.
 * He wore that bar of gold.

And often at his father's feet,
 * The evening he would pass;

When, weary of the hunt, he lay
 * Upon the scented grass.

Alas! it was an evil day.
 * When such a thing could be;

When strangers, pale and terrible,
 * Came o'er the distant sea.

They found the young prince mid the woods.
 * The palm woods deep and dark:

That day his lion hunt was done.
 * They bore him to their bark.

They bound him in a narrow hold.
 * With others of his kind;

For weeks did that accursed ship
 * Sail on before the wind.

Now shame upon the cruel wind.
 * And on the cruel sea,

That did not with some mighty storm,
 * Set those poor captives free: