KING COTTON

ALAS for the snow-white king, the milk-white feathery king,
Who sat on a Southland throne, and ruled by the chain and rod;
Who made his brother a chattel, his sister a shameful thing,
And spat, in his arrogant pride, at the hand of God.

For a blight is over his land, a skeleton sits at his hearth;
His crown is dragged in the mire, and his throne is a seat of shame.
And he in his insolent pride shall perish from off the earth,
While the coming ages shall blush to hear his name.

September, 1863