The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 3.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

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[23] Down came the stranger vessel,
     Unheeding on her way,
So near that on the slaver's deck
     Fell off her driven spray.
“Ho! for the love of mercy,
     We're perishing and blind!”
A wail of utter agony
     Came back upon the wind:

“Help us! for we are stricken
     With blindness every one;
Ten days we've floated fearfully,
     Unnoting star or sun.
Our ship's the slaver Leon,—
     We've but a score on board;
Our slaves are all gone over,—
     Help, for the love of God!”

On livid brows of agony
     The broad red lightning shone;
But the roar of wind and thunder
     Stifled the answering groan;
Wailed from the broken waters
     A last despairing cry,
As, kindling in the stormy light,
     The stranger ship went by.

In the sunny Guadaloupe
     A dark-hulled vessel lay,
With a crew who noted never
     The nightfall or the day.
The blossom of the orange
     Was white by every stream,