Page:The West Indies, and Other Poems.djvu/66

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Like Peter, sleeping in his cliains, he lay, The angel came, his night was turn'd to day j ' Arise I' his fetters fall, his slumbers flee ; He wakes to life, he springs to liberty.

No more to Demon-Gocls, in hideous forms, He pray'd for earthquakes, pestilence, and storms. In secret agony devoured the earth. And, while he spared his mother, cursed his birth : To heaven the Christian Negro sent his sighs, In morning vows and evening sacrifice ; He pray'd for blessings to descend on those That dealt to him the cup of many woes ; Thought of his home in Africa forlorn ; Yet, while he wept, rejoiced that he was born. No lon^'cr burning with unholy fires. He wallow'd in the dust of base desires; Ennobling virtue fix'd his hopes above, Enlarged his heart, aiid sanctified his love :

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