Poems in Two Volumes, Volume 1: IX

IX

September 1st, 1802.

  We had a fellow-Passenger who came
  From Calais with us, gaudy in array,
  A Negro Woman like a Lady gay,
  Yet silent as a woman fearing blame;
  Dejected, meek, yea pitiably tame,
  She sate, from notice turning not away,
  But on our proffer'd kindness still did lay
  A weight of languid speech, or at the same
  Was silent, motionless in eyes and face.
  She was a Negro Woman driv'n from France,
  Rejected like all others of that race,
  Not one of whom may now find footing there;
  This the poor Out-cast did to us declare,
  Nor murmur'd at the unfeeling Ordinance.

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