| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | To Toussaint L’Ouverture | | By William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
| | | TOUSSAINT, the most unhappy man of men! | |
| Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough | |
| Within thy hearing, or thy head be now | |
| Pillowed in some deep dungeon’s earless den;— | |
| O miserable Chieftain! where and when | 5 |
| Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not; do thou | |
| Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow: | |
| Though fallen thyself, never to rise again, | |
| Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind | |
| Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies; | 10 |
| There’s not a breathing of the common wind | |
| That will forget thee; thou hast great allies; | |
| Thy friends are exultations, agonies, | |
| And love, and man’s unconquerable mind. | | | | |
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