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[140] I have seen the Haytien Captain; I have seen his swarthy crew,
Haters of the pallid faces, to their race and color true.
They have sworn to wait our coming till the night has passed its noon,
And the gray and darkening waters roll above the sunken moon! “
Oh, the blessed hope of freedom! how with joy and glad surprise,
For an instant throbs her bosom, for an instant beam her eyes!
But she looks across the valley, where her mother's hut is seen,
Through the snowy bloom of coffee, and the lemon— leaves so green.
And she answers, sad and earnest: “It were wrong for thee to stay;
God hath heard thy prayer for freedom, and his finger points the way.
Well I know with what endurance, for the sake of me and mine,
Thou hast borne too long a burden never meant for souls like thine.
Go; and at the hour of midnight, when our last farewell is o'er,
Kneeling on our place of parting, I will bless thee from the shore.
Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1888-89.
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