The Slave's Dream -- H. W. Longfellow

 The Slave’s Dream – H. W. Longfellow

 

Besides the ungathered rice he lay,

His sickle in his hand:

His breast was bare, his matted hair

Was buried in the sand.

Again, in the mist and shadow of sleep,

He saw his Native Land.

Wide through the landscape of his dreams

The lordly Niger flowed:

Beneath the palm-trees on the plain

Once more a king he storde; 

And heard the tinkling caravans

Descend the mountain-road.

He saw once more his dark-eyed queen

Among her children stand;

They clasped his neck, they kissed his cheeks,

They held him by the hand:

A tear burst from the sleeper’s lids

And fell into the sand.

And then at furious speed he rode

Along the Niger’s bank;

His bridle-reins were golden chains,

And, with a martial clank,

At each leap he could feel his scabbard of steel

Smiting his stallion’s flank.

Before him, like a blood-red flag. 

The bright-flamingoes flew;

From morn till night he followed their flight,

O’er plains where the tamarind grew,

Till he saw the roofs of Caffre huts.

And the ocean rose to view.

At night he heard the lion roar,

And the hyena scream,

And it passed, like a glorious roll of drums,

Through the triumph of his dream. 

The forests, with their myriad tongues,

Shouted of liberty;

And the Blast of the Desert cried aloud,

With a voice so wild and free, 

That he started in his sleep and smiled,

At their tempestuous glee.

He did not feel the driver’s whip

Nor the burning heat of day:

For death had illumined the Land of sleep,

And his lifeless body lay

 A worn-out fetter, that the soul 

Had broken and thrown away!

 

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The Slave’s Dream – H. W. Longfellow

 

The poem “The Slave’s Dream is a very moving humanitarian poem written by H. W. Longfellow. The poem refers to the age when the America settled English men forcibly brought the African Negroes and kept them as slaves to work in their fields. The slaves were kept in chains and forced to work as animals. They were flocked and kept half-starved so that they may not revolt against their masters. In this poem the Negro who was captured and brought to America as a slave was a chieftain in his African country. He was forced to work so hard that he could not endure and fell asleep. In his sleep he saw a dream. In the dream he saw his country., his queen and family, and all other things that he loved and admired in his country. He felt so shocked that he died in his sleep. His master came and started flogging him, but death had already liberated him from the chains of slavery. 

 

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