The Peonage System Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ KKLL MMN OOP QQRR SSNN

The religious wars of Europe have been numbered with the pastA
But a worse thing bright America with clouds has overcastA
'Tis the heinous contract system that plantation life containsB
Worse than slavery's conditions in a land where freedom reignsB
-
Negroes forced in one roomed cabins mother's from their children tornC
All the day till dark of evening from the dawn of early mornC
Sweet affection thrift and neatness all that perfect homes would bringD
Yea humanity is buried at command of money's kingD
-
Shall the future of the Negro by the white man be suppressedE
In his forcing from the present all that makes the future bestE
Shall the training of the children be neglected passing strangeF
Things material for the morals of the Negro they exchangeF
-
Oft we find an overseer with a gun and club and whipG
Who at night within the stockade locks the Negroes lest they skipG
If they offer a resistance for their treatment in this cageH
They are clubed into submission in the overseer's rageH
-
Some are kidnapped for the stockade others taken there for debtI
Fed with only bread and water and for more they dare not fretI
They are worked like beasts of burden and the story here is toldJ
Of the sacrifice of manhood to a god that's made of goldJ
-
'Tis an open open secret how the white man without painK
Sells the evil one his conscience out of greed for earthly gainK
Barbarism can't surpass it races cannot lower fallL
'Mid this great enlightened country money's king rules over allL
-
If a farm hand makes an effort in the schooling of himselfM
Or a mother will persist in looking up her little elfM
They must leave the old plantation for a more congenial climeN
'No enlightenment for Negroes ' planters say ' 'tis loss of time '-
-
'Send to Africa the Negro ' they have talked of such you knowO
Like to England's Irish question planters cannot let him goO
Hear the planter loudly singing this the chorus of the songP
'Keep the 'niggers ' all the 'niggers' in the field where they belong '-
-
Now he pleads for better treatment why dehumanize a raceQ
On the farm he's proved his service and there's none to take his placeQ
None to stand the heat of summer in the making of the cropR
Whites are taught to need his labor and they cannot learn to stopR
-
Sad indeed to find a nation bowing down to money's mightS
Sacrificing all that's noble all that's beautiful and rightS
'Righteousness exalts a nation ' sin can only bring it shameN
Serve no other god I warn you in the God of heaven's nameN

Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer



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