Memoir and Poems of Phillis Whe - African American History

Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley 52
24.03.2006
Let placid slumbers soothe each weary mind,
At morn to wake, more heavenly, more refined;
So shall the labours of the day begin
More pure, more guarded from the snares of sin.
Night's leaden sceptre seals my drowsy eyes,
Then cease my song, till fair Aurora rise.
ISAIAH--63d Chap. 1st and 8th Verses.
SAY, heavenly Muse, what king, or mighty God,
That moves sublime from Idumea's road?
In Bozrah's dies, with martial glories joined,
His purple vesture waves upon the wind.
Why thus enrobed delights he to appear
In the dread image of the Power of war?
Compressed in wrath, the swelling wine-press groaned;
It bled, and poured the gushing purple round.
"Mine was the act," the Almighty Saviour said,
And shook the dazzling glories of his head;
"When all forsook, I trod the press alone,
"And conquered by omnipotence my own;
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"For man's release sustained the ponderous load,
"For man the wrath of an immortal God:
"To execute the Eternal's dread command,
"My soul I sacrificed with willing hand;
"Sinless I stood before the avenging frown,
"Atoning thus, for vices not my own."
His eye the ample field of battle round
Surveyed, but no created succors found;