Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-02-23
POETRY
From ne Western Recorder.
Til slave,


From he Western Recorder.
The slave,
"Whoso is wise, and will observe these
binos. even they shall understand the low
ng Kindness of the Lord."-HOy Writ.
Midnight on Carolina +; gloriously
The stars went up in heaven, and gentle
tones
stream and pinc-wood, blended in a
hymn
OF sof,es, music, stole upon the wind
Swee,iy and ,hrillingly. The soul Of night,
That glorious spirit that hath made its
home
IN solitude and starlight. DER the world
Held its unyielding mastery /; and the heart
or the lone watcher on the mountains brow
Beat softly, as il cen a pulses leap
Might break the midnight's Sabbath hour Of
dreams.
That watcher was a slave a negro boy,
Bonding a godlike spirit to his chain
OF ceaseless bondage; an untutor'd boy
In all the glorious lore Of by-gone days;
But reading with a curious eye
Natures unle,ier'd volume; a strange boy,
With nrisught fsncies ot the clear blue sky,
Holy and beautiful. And he had come
Out to the quiet hills. ami laid Him down
By the da k pines, TO hold at midnight's
watch
Communion with the spirit Of the hour.
Low sigh'd the whispering wind the
murmuriDg stream
Flow'd OIL more silently; and as he lay
Watching the starry banner, that lone night
Flung to the winds of heaven, his fancy
woke
Up from its day light slumber. and with
thoughts
or his deep bondage, that amid his kind
Made him a by-word, stirring at his heart,
He 5reath'd his free thoughts to the silent
air.
A slave! Ay, now I feel
My weight ofbondsge: ] might cease 10 pine
Under my fetter, did the bright sun shine
Forever, and reveal
How much more free from grief. and care.
and pain,
Is he who wears, Than he who binds the
chain.
Butnow nights glorious sky.
Filled with unnumbered spirit forms, that
fee
From star to star, all l%imi'less and free,
Bends DER me, aud sigh
With a strange yearning, for a wing to soar
Proudly as they, and be slave no more.
OH why are dark chains bound
In such a world as this. where every sigh
OF wind and water hath Of liberty
A strange u%ndyirg sound1
And the dim woods, from bird and pine
bough swelling.
A soft %triumphal tone Of freedom telling.
And the bright stars Of night
They have no tale Of chains, no stain oil
tears
Dimming the glory of their endless years.
In heavens unceasing light:
And where. oh where, can man have learn
ed 10 be
a brothers. tyrant in captivity
Bnt a few days, I know,
And the strong spirit to the dust shall fling
This chain of bondage from It's dropping
wing,
And like a freed bird 90
Up into heaven, all pure and bright end free
A spirit with a spirits liberty,
And though l will not weep,
Yet my weak heart yearns strangely, wit
my kind,
To 60 forth freed from these dark chains thu
pilu
Me ever, and to keep
Watch through the midnight, with no bite
tears
To shed DER visions of my coming years.
y n
Oh ifthere is one lesson TO be learn'd
From Gods creation; if there is a thought
Burningly uttered in the gentle tone
or heavens eternal language; III voice
From the deep chambers Of the unc!oude
sky,
That finds an echo in the unsearch'd depth
OF the hearts better feelings, it is this
That God wanld have no slaves. The GENT
air,
And the freed water, and the Joyous Law
VI springs %uncounted warblers, and tn
Stars
Shining in glory, have no voice 10 teach
vi slavery and chains. And could we wi
Al angels eye, to read the unblotted page
Or natare's volume, and an angels mind,
10 fathom the deep mysteries that lie
Hid In its burning words; and did We feel
How like our childhood's visions, earth
pomp
Fades in the sunligh, of eternal truth;
Ihen wonld The untold wealth of gems an
gold.
Th4ta slaves hand might gather Iavishly
Into our shining cofs rs, seem at best.
Like The bright piBion of the pestilence,
The gllded drapery Of a loihsome grave,
The hectic beauty on the cheek of death.
SEDLEY.
From The Hartford Republican.
A Prayer.