The following verses from the composition must take a creditable place in American verse:
America! her home is here!
She wants nor knows no other home;
No other lands, nor far nor near,
Can charm or tempt her thence to roam.
Her ancestors, like all the rest.
Came from the Eastern Hemisphere,
But she is native of the West;
She'll lend a hand to Africa,
And in her elevation aid.
But here in brave America,
Her home—her only home—is made;
No one has power to send her hence;
This home was planned by Providence.
From her "Voice of the Zephyrs," written while still in college and just in her teens, which, like her "America," is addressed to the African race, the following is quoted:
Hark! sweeping o'er spicy plains and streams
Of Africa's sunlit shores the balmy breath
Of zephyrs comes, all fragrant with glad,
A joyous song, like some Æolian harp,
Whose strings are dripping v»ith the sweets 1)lown
From the bosom of a thousand flowers rare.
In deepest silence, low I bow to catch
The blissful words wafted in these accents soft:
"Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands to God,
Her wilderness shall bloom into the land,
The lovely bridal land of Beulah, fair
As Queen of Sheba shall she be adorned.
Her head shall be filled with the wisdom of
King Solomon, her heart shall overflow
With beauty to all humanity;
Then nations shall look up to see her face."
Amen ! Blow on, ye winged zephyrs, blow!
Until you bring about the promised time.
