1. On Afric's wide plains where the lion now roaring,
With freedom stalks forth the vast desert exploring,
I was dragg'd from my hut and enchain'd as a slave,
In a dark floating dungeon upon the salt wave.
Spare a halfpenny, spare a halfpenny,
Spare a halfpenny to a poor Negro.
2. Toss'd on the wild main, I all wildly despairing,
Burst my chains rushed on deck with my eyeballs glaring,
When the lightning's dread blast struck the inlets of day,
And its glorious bright beams shut forever away.
Spare a halfpenny, spare a halfpenny,
Spare a halfpenny to a poor Negro.
3. The despoiler of man then his prospect thus losing,
Of gain by my sale, not a blind bargain choosing,
As my value compar'd with my keeping was light,
Had me dash'd overboard in the dead of the night.
Spare a halfpenny, spare a halfpenny,
Spare a halfpenny to a poor Negro.
View the published score. |
4. And but for a bark to Britannia's coast bound then,
All my cares by that plunge in the deep had been drown'd then,
But by moonlight descry'd, I was snatch'd from the wave,
And reluctantly robb'd of a watery grave.
Spare a halfpenny, spare a halfpenny,
Spare a halfpenny to a poor Negro.
5. How disastrous my fate freedom's ground though I tread now,
Torn from home, wife and children and wandering for bread now
While the seas roll between us which ne'er can be crossed
And hope's distant glimmerings in darkness are lost.
Spare a halfpenny, spare a halfpenny,
Spare a halfpenny to a poor Negro.
6. But of mind's foul or fair when the judge and the ponderer
Shall restore light and rest to the blind and the wanderer
The European's deep dye may out rival the sloe
And the soul of an Ethiope prove as white as snow.
Spare a halfpenny, spare a halfpenny,
Spare a halfpenny to a poor Negro. |
