What Is A Slave? Poem by Benjamin Cutler Clark

A slave is—what?
A thing that's got
Nothing, and that alone!
His time—his wife—
And e'en his life,
He dare not call his own.

A slave is—what?
Ah! dreadful lot
Is his that's doomed to toil,
Without regard,
Or just reward,
Upon another's soil.

A slave is—what?
Ah! cruel thought,
That I should have to be,
In constant strife,
Throughout my life,
Deprived of liberty.

A slave is—what?
A perfect naught,
Shorn of his legal right;
And then compelled
To work, he's held,
The remnant of his life.

A slave is—what?
A being bought,
Or stolen from himself,
By Christians, who
This trade pursue,
For sordid, paltry pelf.

A slave is—what?
A being sought
Throughout this wide domain;
Through bog and glen,
By dogs and men,
For lucre—cursed gain!

A slave is—what?
I pray do not
Insist; I cannot know,
Nor words impart,
Or, painter's art,
Describe a slave—ah, no!

A slave is—what?
Tell I can not,—
The task I would not crave:
If you would know,
Then straightway go,
And be yourself a slave!