Part I

WITHIN Angola's regal bounds,
On Afric's wild and sultry waste,
Were JUBA and his ORRA born,
And life's brief morn together pass'd.

Yet on that drear uncultur'd soil,
Nature their tender minds impress'd
With early sense of right and wrong,
And pour'd her softness o'er each breast.

Or ere ten years had crown'd their youth,
From kin and country were they torn,
For sordid ore to slav'ry sold,
To strange and diff'rent climates borne.

Mates in their infant sports, they griev'd
When sunder'd from each other's side,
And with their tears a farewel took,
As either vessel cut the tide.

She, by the master of her fate,
Was landed on Barbado[...]s' Isle,
There to a wealthy merchant sold,
'Mid groups of fellow-slaves to toil.

And many a heavy hour she pass'd,
As o'er her painful task she hung,
And sometimes thought of JUBA lost,
And now she wept, and now she sung.

The music of her plaintive voice
Attracted ev'ry list'ning ear,
And her demeanour, meek and kind,
To each good heart made ORRA dear.

But chief her younger mistress' breast
Her ditties wild to pity mov'd,
As through the circuit of the grounds
The gentle ANNA daily rov'd.

Some three years more advanc'd in age,
Oft would the British Maiden stray
Where patient ORRA ply'd her task,
To listen to her artless lay.

At her request, the tender Moor
Was from the field of labour led,
From scorching suns, and rulers harsh,
And to domestic duties bred.

Here, all she was prescrib'd to learn
With docile cheerfulness attain'd,
Unconscious of her own desert,
She daily praise and favour gain'd.

And when her ev'ning task was o'er,
Oft-time would ANNA soothe her forth
To wander in the cedar-grove,
And learn the story of her birth.

As oft in tears would ORRA tell,
Of parents to her heart scarce known,
Who sent her into stranger lands,
Unbless'd, unfriended, and alone.

Hence an attachment mutual grew,
Nor could a sister's love be more,
Than ANNA's susceptible heart
To poor deserted ORRA bore.

Here ORRA found a better home
For many a rising happy year,
Dear to the equals of her state,
Nor less to her superiors dear:

And here fidelity and love
Attach'd and lengthen'd ORRA's stay,
Until with mingled smiles and tears,
She witness'd ANNA's bridal day.