"Formerly A Slave"

by



An idealized Portrait, by E. Vedder, in the Spring Exhibition of the National Academy, 1865!

The sufferance of her race is shown,
  And retrospect of life,
Which now too late deliverance dawns upon;
  Yet is she not at strife.
Her children's children they shall know
  The good withheld from her;
And so her reverie takes prophetic cheer—
  In spirit she sees the stir.
Far down the depth of thousand years,
  And marks the revel shine;
Her dusky face is lit with sober light,
  Sibylline, yet benign.



8

facebook share button twitter share button reddit share button share on pinterest pinterest


Add "Formerly A Slave" to your library.

Return to the Herman Melville library , or . . . Read the next poem; From The Conflict Of Convictions

© 2022 AmericanLiterature.com