Poetry: The Slave In The Dismal Swamp

In the (Inri; lons of the distnal swamp The hun:ed Negro Iriy: Ile siw the fire of ihe midnight camp, And heard at tij es n hmso's tramp And a bloodhound'B dist::m by. AVIicrr vi!l-o'-ihc-v;sp? and glowwonrsshir;', 1 büfrasli and in hrnkc; Where waving mof-ses shrcud tin pinc. And ilie codar grows, ;md ihe poisonous vine Is 8poïti'd like thesnuku; Where hardly a human foot could pnss, Or a hnnan heart would d.iro, On ihe quakiiiir tuiToi ihe pr:en lYtoraea ile Ptonched in the tnultiiud tangled grass, Like a wild benst in hts l:ir. A poor old slave, infifm and !a-i;e; Örenl sc.irs defonnod hisfnee; On his forehead lic box: the brand of sliamc, And the mas. tliat bid his mangled iVatr.i', Were ihelivcry of disgrncc. ' All things abovc wero briyiit and fair, All thmgs werc glnd ;:nd fieo; Blitlie squirrels (ltiited ure and ilieic. And wild l)irds (rlled the eclioing air With songs of Libcity! On him alone was the gloom of pain, Froni the morning o. hishirth; On him alone the curse of Caiji Feil, like a flailon the garnered grain, And strickeu him to t!ie eirth!