Page:The West Indies, and Other Poems.djvu/36

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Thus, childless as the Charibbeans died, Afric's strong sons the ravening waste supplied ; Of hardier fibre to endure the yoke,

And self-renew'd beneath the severing stroke;

As grim oppression crush'd them to the tomb,

Their fruitful parent's miserable womb

Teem'd with fresh myriads, crowded o'er the waves,

Heirs to their toil, their sufferings, and their graves.

Freighted with curses was the bark that bore The spoilers of the west to Guinea's shore ; Heavy with groans of anguish blew the gales That swell'd that fatal bark's returning sails ; Old Ocean shrunk as o'er his surface flew The human cargo and the demon crew. — Thenceforth, unnumber'd as the waves that roll From sun to sun, or pass from pole to pole. Outcasts and exiles from their country torn. In floating dungeons o'er the gulph were borne ;

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