Virginia Argus

Poetry.

FROM THE PEN OF ROSCOE:

1
WIDE over the tremulous sea
The moon spread her mantle of light,
And the gale, dying gently away,
Breath'd soft on the bosom of night.
On the fore-castle Marraton stood,
And pour'd forth his sorrowful tale;
His tears fell unseen in the flood,
His sighs pass'd unheard on the gale.

2
"Ah wretch! in wild anguish he cried,
"From country and liberty torn,
"Ah Marraton! would thou hadst died,
E're o'er the salt wave thou wast borne.
"Thro' the groves of Angola, I stray'd,
"Love and Hope made my bosom their own,
"For I talk'd with my favorite maid,
"Nor dreamt of the sorrows to come.

3
From the thicket the man-hunter sprung,
"My cries echoed loud thro' the air,
"There was fury and wrath on his tongue,
"He was deaf to the shrieks of despar.
"Accurst be the merciless band
"That his love could from Marraton tear,
"And blasted this impotent hand,
"That was sever'd from all I held dear.

4
"Flow on tears, down my cheeks ever flow,
"Still let sleep from my eyelids depart;
"And still may the arrows of woe
Drink deep of the streams of my heart.
"But hark! on the silence of night,
"My Addela's accents I hear,
"And mournful beneath the wan light,
"I see her loved image appear.

5
"Slow o'er the smooth ocean she glides,
"Like the gleam that hangs light on the wave;
"And fondly her lover she chides
"That lingers so long from his grave.
"Ah Marraton! haste ye! she cries,
"Here the reign of Oppression is o'er,
"Here the tyrant is robb'd of his prize,
"And Addela sorrows no more.

6
"Now sinking amid the dim ray,
"Her form seem'd to fade on my view;
"O stay thee! my Addela, stay!
".She beckons, and I must pursue.
"To-morrow the white-man in vain
"Shall proudly account me his slave;
"My shackles I plunge in the main,
"And rush to the realms of the brave."