English poem
From the New-Haven Gazette, and Connecticut Magazine, for 1788. TO THE PRINTER
"Help! oh, help! thou GOD of Christians! "Save a mother from despair! "Cruel white-men steal my children! "GOD of Christians, hear my prayer!
"From my arms by force they're rended, "Sailors drag them to the sea; "Yonder ship, at anchor riding, "Swift will carry them away.
"There my son lies, stripp'd, and bleeding; "Fast, with thongs, his hands are bound. "See, the tyrants, how they scourge him! "See his sides a reeking wound!
"See his little sister by him; "Quaking, trembling, how she lies! "Drops of blood her face besprinkle; "Tears of anguish fill her eyes.
"Now they tear her brother from her; "Down, below the deck, he's thrown; "Stiff with beating, thro' fear silent, "Save a single, death-like, groan.
"Hear the little creature begging!"— 'Take me, white-men, for your own! 'Spare! oh, spare my darling brother! 'He's my mother's only son.
'See, upon the shore she's raving: 'Down she falls upon the sands: 'Now, she tears her flesh with madness; 'Now, she prays with lifted hands.
'I am young, and strong, and hardy; 'He's a sick, and feeble boy; 'Take me, whip me, chain me, starve me, 'All my life I'll toil with joy.
'Christians! who's the GOD you worship? "Is he cruel, fierce, or good? 'Does he take delight in mercy? 'Or in spilling human blood?
'Ah! my poor distracted mother! 'Hear her scream upon the shore.'— Down the savage Captain struck her, Lifeless on the vessel's floor.
Up his sails he quickly hoisted, To the ocean bent his way; Headlong plunged the raving mother, From a high rock, in the sea.
More by E. Elihu Hubbard Smith
- A HYMN, Sung at the PUBLIC EXHIBITION of the SCHOLARS, belonging to the Academy in Greenfield, May 2d, 1788…
- A Song. by the Same
- AN ELEGY ON LIEUTENANT DE HART, Vol. Aid to Gen. Wayne. BY THE SAME
- From a Gentleman, to a Lady, who had presented him with a CAKE HEART. BY THE SAME
- Habakkuk, Chap. III. by the Same
- Invocation to Hope. by the Same
- NEW YEAR's WISH
- On General Ethan Allen. by the Same