Riff On Gajanan Mishra's Fine Poem: 'Of Human Bondage.' Poem by David McLansky

The man who has a slave
Is easily debased
For who deserves the praise
When his lineage is traced?

His children born of rape
Submission on the bed
Humiliation in the eyes
Filled with fear and dread;

His soul exposed corrupt
Lacking discipline
Reputation soiled abrupt
A Self diseased by sin;

The worker in the field
Becomes his path to wealth
Whipped with barbs of steel
Accused of sloth and stealth;

The mighty Jefferson
Who wrote of Human Rights
Had daughters and black sons
Conceived by rape at night.