George Moses Horton Poems

When auburn Autumn mounts the stage,
And Summer fails her charms to yield,
Bleak nature turns another page,
...

Am I sadly cast aside,
On misfortune's rugged tide?
Will the world my pains deride
Forever?
...

I was a harness horse,
Constrained to travel weak or strong,
With orders from oppressing force,
Push along, push along.
...

Blown up with painful care and hard to light,
A glimmering torch blown in a moment out,
Suspended by a web, an angler's bait,
Floating at stake along the stream of chance,
...

Alas! and am I born for this,
To wear this slavish chain?
Deprived of all created bliss,
Through hardship, toil and pain!
...

Sweet memory, like a pleasing dream,
Still lends a dull and feeble ray;
For ages with her vestige teems,
When beauty's trace is worn away.
...

Esteville fire begins to burn;
The auburn fields of harvest rise;
The torrid flames again return,
And thunders roll along the skies.
...

Whilst tracing thy visage I sink in emotion,
For no other damsel so wond'rous I see;
Thy looks are so pleasing, thy charms so amazing,
...

It well bespeaks a man beheaded, quite
Divested of the laurel robe of life,
When every member struggles for its base,
...

Brave Grant, thou hero of the war,
Thou art the emblem of the morning star,
Transpiring from the East to banish fear,
...