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Poetry: The Slave Singing At Midnight

Poetry: The Slave Singing At Midnight image
Parent Issue
Day
20
Month
March
Year
1843
Copyright
Public Domain
Additional Text

First published in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's pamphlet Poems on Slavery, Cambridge: John Owen, 1842.

Poem
OCR Text

Loud lie sung i lio psalm ofDavid; He, a Negro, and enslaved, Sung of'Ierael's victory, Sang ofZion, bright and free. ín tNnt hour, when niglit s cnlmest, Sung he from the Hebrew Psalmiet, In n voice so sweet and clear That I could not choóse but liear. Songs of trimnplij nnd nscriptions, Such as renched llieswart Egyptians, Wnen upon the R'ec! Sea coast Perished Parraoh and his host. And the voicc of liis devol ion Filled iny 3011I with strango omotior.; For its tones by inrns wero gtad, Swecily solenin, wildly sad. Puul and S.ilas, ii th'eir prisort, Snng of Chrfst the Lord arisen, And an enrthqunke'sarrn of might Broke their duhgeon-gatcs at nighl. But, alas! what holy arigtil Brings the slave this glad evangel? And whot earthquike'sarm of might Brenks his dungeon-gatcs at night?