Moonlight and Slavery

This is so sadly ironic and appropriate – especially last stanza, when you consider if you’re going from Turkey to India next:

Moonlight on the Bosphorus by Victor Hugo

Bright shone the merry moonbeams dancing o’er the wave;

At the cool casement, to the evening breeze flung wide,

Leans the Sultana, and delights to watch the tide,

With surge of silvery sheen, yon sleeping islets lave.

From her hand, as it falls, vibrates the light guitar.

She listens—hark! that sound that echoes dull and low.

Is it the beat upon the Archipelago

Of some long galley’s oar, from Scio bound afar?

Is it the cormorants, whose black wings, one by one,

Cut the blue wave that o’er them breaks in liquid pearls?

Is it some hovering sprite with whistling scream that hurls

Down to the deep from yon old tower a loosened stone?

Who thus disturbs the tide near the seraglio?

‘Tis no dark cormorants that on the ripple float,

‘Tis no dull plume of stone—no oars of Turkish boat,

With measured beat along the water creeping slow.

‘Tis heavy sacks, borne each by voiceless dusky slaves;

And could you dare to sound the depths of yon dark tide,

Something like human form would stir within its side.

Bright shone the merry moonbeams dancing o’er the wave.

If the irony is lost on you then visit www.thedaymygoddied.com and www.rowforfreedom.com

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s