Selected Poems by William J. GraysonNeale publishing Company, 1907 - 148 pages |
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Abolitionists arms band battle beguile beneath bestows blessing blood brave bread breeze bright Briton charm cheer chief climes clouds country's courser dare deed deep demagogues deplore distant fame fate fear feast Fezzan field fierce flash flowers forest forest warrior fortune fragrant gallant gentle gifts grace grave Grayson hand happier healing hand heart Heaven hireling hope host hunter impart iron heel labor land light maize Marion's Marion's men master matchless meet mortal mourns native negro night nobler numbers o'er pauper peace Petigru pines praise prayer pride quiet race rapture ready rise savage scene scorn scout shade shining shore sinks skies skill slave slavery sloth smile sorrow South Carolina sport spread spurn stern stood stream strife summer swamp sweep sweet sword toil trees troop vainly voice wassail watch wave weary Wemys wild WILLIAM H wings wood yields
Popular passages
Page 51 - See yonder poor, o'erlabour'd wight, So abject, mean, and vile, Who begs a brother of the earth To give him leave to toil ; And see his lordly fellow-worm The poor petition spurn, Unmindful, tho' a weeping wife And helpless offspring mourn.
Page 22 - MORTAL man, who livest here by toil, Do not complain of this thy hard estate ; That like an emmet thou must ever moil, Is a sad sentence of an ancient date ; And, certes, there is for it reason great; For, though sometimes it makes thee' weep and wail, And curse thy star, and early drudge and late, Withouten that would come an heavier bale, Loose life, unruly passions, and diseases pale.
Page 22 - Thou shalt not eat of it : cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee...
Page 36 - Instructed. . . in the only school Barbarians ever know — a Master's rule. The negro learns each civilizing art That softens and subdues the savage heart. Assumes the tone of those with whom he lives. Acquires the habit that refinement gives. And slowly learns, but surely while a slave. The lesson that his country never gave (7).
Page 53 - That leave, though rough, no painful sting behind; While, nestling near, to bless their humble lot, Warm social joys surround the Negro's cot, The evening dance its merriment imparts, Love, with his rapture, fills their youthful hearts, And placid age, the task of labor done, Enjoys the summer shade, the winter sun, And, as through life no pauper want he knows, Laments no poor-house penance at its close.
Page 28 - And beg a stranger's bounty to supply The food and shelter that their homes deny. Yet homebred misery, such as this, imparts Nor grief nor care to philanthropic hearts ; The tear of sympathy forever flows, Though not for Saxon or for Celtic woes; Vainly the starving white, at every door, Craves help or pity for the hireling poor; But that the distant black may softlier fare, Eat, sleep, and play, exempt from toil and care, All England's meek philanthropists unite With frantic eagerness, harangue...
Page 42 - The dog-like faithfulness that keeps an oath ; For rules of right, the silly crowd may bawl, His loftier spirit scorns and spurns them all ; He heeds nor Court's decree, nor gospel light, What Sumner thinks is right, alone is right ; On this sound maxim Sires and Sons proceed, Changed in all else, but still in this agreed ; The Sires all slavers, the humaner Son Curses the trade and mourns the mischief done.
Page 46 - Taught by the master's efforts, by his care Fed, clothed, protected many a patient year, From trivial numbers now to millions grown, With all the white man's useful arts their own, Industrious, docile, skilled in wood and field, To guide the plow, the sturdy axe to wield, The negroes schooled by slavery embrace The highest portion of the negro race; And none the savage native will compare, Of barbarous Guinea, with its offspring here.
Page 55 - With kind salute the passing neighbour meets, With awkward grace the morning traveller greets, And joined by crowds, that gather as he goes, Seeks the calm joy the Sabbath morn bestows. There no proud temples to devotion rise, With marble domes that emulate the skies; But bosomed in primeval trees...
Page 73 - North in suburban dens and human sties, In foul excesses sung, the Negro lies; A moral pestilence to taint and stain. His life a curse, his death a social gain, Debased, despised, the Northern pariah knows He shares no good that liberty bestows; Spurned from her gifts, with each successive year, In drunken want his numbers disappear.21 There was a carry-over of these ideas in the Reconstruction.