Page 13 of EBB's manuscript of "The African."
Accession #: EBB MSS, D0015.1
Transcription:
Unutterable things it spoke . .
It told that Affa’s heart was broke!
Canto second
Years passed – the light swift foot of time
Swiftly o’er that green isle fled,
And his severe tyrannic tread
O’er joys and sorrows passed sublime. .
But there are sorrows, and have been –
There is a pang of wretchedness
Which Time’s self cannot make serene
Nor bid its agony be less!
Time passed, and still those soft lights charm
The young green waves from oceans water –
But time’s whole influence could not calm
The soul of Afric’s loveliest daughter!
Still from that soft pelucid eye
The phrenzied flash
Thro’ the long lash
With wildest beauty breaking
Gleamed – fired with dread insanity
The pangs of that full heart bespeaking!
And Affa, tho’ by nought beguiled,
When others wept for her, hast smiled –
And oft she laughed, but ‘twas a tone
So mournfully so madly wild –
So far from joy, so terrible
T’would be more pleasing, if a groan
So harsh the dreadful accents fell.
And as in dissonance, it crashes –
That jarring laugh; instinctively
Oft moistening those long lovely lashes