Thirty Years Poem by Juan Francisco Manzano

WHEN I think on the course I have run,
From my childhood itself to this day,
I tremble, and fain would I shun,
The remembrance its terrors array.


I marvel at struggles endured,
With a destiny frightful as mine,
At the strength for such efforts:--assured
Tho' I am, 'tis in vain to repine.


I have known this sad life thirty years,
And to me, thirty years it has been
Of suff'ring, of sorrow and tears,
Ev'ry day of its bondage I've seen.


But 'tis nothing the past--or the pains,
Hitherto I have struggled to bear,
When I think, oh, my God! on the chains,
That I know I'm yet destined to wear.