High in the air expos'd the Slave is hung <br /> To all the birds of Heaven, their living food! <br />He groans not, tho' awaked by that fierce Sun <br /> New torturers live to drink their parent blood! <br />He groans not, tho' the gorging Vulture tear <br /> The quivering fibre! hither gaze O ye <br /> Who tore this Man from Peace and Liberty! <br />Gaze hither ye who weigh with scrupulous care <br />The right and prudent; for beyond the grave <br /> There is another world! and call to mind, <br /> Ere your decrees proclaim to all mankind <br />Murder is legalized, that there the Slave <br />Before the Eternal, "thunder-tongued shall plead <br />"Against the deep damnation of your deed."<br /><br />Robert Southey<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/poems-on-the-slave-trade-sonnet-vi/
