Page:The West Indies, and Other Poems.djvu/23

 11

One race by tyrants rooted from the earth, One doom'd to slavery by the taint of birth !

Where first his drooping sails Columbus furl'd, And sweetly rested in another world, Amidst the heaven-reflecting ocean, smiles A constellation of elysian isles ; Fair as Orion when he mounts on high, Sparkling with midnight splendour from the sky : They bask beneath the sun's meridian rays, When not a shadow breaks the boundless blaze ; The breath of ocean wanders through their vales In morning breezes and in evening gales : Earth from her lap perennial verdure pours. Ambrosial fruits, and amaranthine flowers ; O'er the wild mountains and luxuriant plains, Nature in all the pomp of beauty reigns. In all the pride of freedom. — Nature free Proclaims that Man was born for liberty :

�� �