TO THE ASPIRING NEGRO YOUTH
After years of patient study and historical research, I have made the following deductions of parts played by the Ethiopian in the annals of history, under the caption, "An Ode to Ethiopia." It is true that questions will rise regarding the racial identity of some of my characters, in view of historical statements which place them with the Caucasian race; yet I firmly believe, were impartial history written, my claims would be justified. However, Time, the great Arbiter, will finally decide the equity of my claims.
I
Thou Sovran Queen of Afric's sunny strands,
I smite my lyre to sing thy praise unsung;
In strains far sweeter than seraphic bands,
A lay deep in my bosom's core is sprung.
Fair Queen, although my years as yet be young,
Deep thoughts and musings of thy history old,
Where odes and fiery epics long have hung,
Live centuries in my immortal soul
And strike sweet Lydian measures on my harp of gold.
II
Therefore, my song floats softly up to thee,
Full soft as those sweet zephyrs of the spring,
Of which it was and is and still must be,
The sweetest of aeolian strains that ring!
I breathe it on the soft sea winds which bring
Their cooling treasures from the rolling deep;
They 'fresh my brow and make my sad heart sing
And ever lure my drowsy eyes from sleep,
And bid thy vesper chorist strictest vigil keep.
III
Of all the nations that have trod the earth,
In civil states or in the forest wild,
Thou wast the first of real enlightened birth,
Born in fair Egypt on the spreading Nile.
In valleys fertile, sunny climates mild,
Thou sternly taught the "chosen" Hebrew race—
Madonna sheltered with her Holy Child,
Who came to plead man's all unworthy case,
And drained His sacred heart, earth's vilest sin efface!
IV
Long ere the Grecian oped his classic lids
Or mould' true beauty with artistic hands,
Thou reared upon thy plains the lofty pyramids,
With sphinx and obelisks 'decked thy burning sands.
Aye! Queen, thou then wast hailed in all the lands
Long ere vain Babel 'fused the human tongue
In dialects rude of wild barbaric bands;
Thou soared to Wisdom's realm, her sceptre wrung,
And reigned the wisest queen the nations all among.