Page:The Black Man's Lament or How To Make Sugar.pdf/22

 "Who dares an English peasant flog,

Or buy, or sell, or steal away?

Who sheds his blood? treats him like dog,

Or fetters him like beasts of prey?

"He has a cottage, he a wife;

If child he has, that child is free.

I am depriv'd of married life,

And my poor child were slave like me.

"Unlike his home, ours is a shed

Of pine-tree trunks, unsquar'd, ill-clos'd;

Blanket we have, but not a bed,

Whene'er to short, chill sleep dispos'd.

"Our clothing's ragged. All our food

Is rice, dried fish, and Indian meal.

Hard, scanty fare! Oh, would I could

Make White men Negroes' miseries feel!"