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1774–1843

SONNET VI

Robert Southey

High in the air expos'd the Slave is hung To all the birds of Heaven, their living food! He groans not, tho’ awaked by that fierce Sun New torturers live to drink their parent blood!

He groans not, tho’ the gorging Vulture tear The quivering fibre! hither gaze O ye Who tore this Man from Peace and Liberty! Gaze hither ye who weigh with scrupulous care

The right and prudent; for beyond the grave There is another world! and call to mind, Ere your decrees proclaim to all mankind Murder is legalized, that there the Slave

Before the Eternal, “thunder-tongued shall plead “Against the deep damnation of your deed.”

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SONNET VI · Robert Southey · Poetry Cove