Augustus M. Hodges, "In Dreamland" (1901)
Enthroned upon a tropic isle,
With fragrant plants and fruits and flowers;
Heaven and nature's sweetest smile
Beams brightly on this vast domain;
A princely mansion, large and bright,
A host of servants in my train,
Who do my bidding day and night —
In Dreamland.
There is a barren, rocky shorc
(A few short leagues from my estate)
With all the ills of life in store
For him whose bark's driven there by fate;
Privation, sickness, sorrow, death,
And wicked demons of great might,
Or harpies with sulphuric breath----
'Twas there I found myself one night----
In Dreamland.
Published in Colored American Magazine, March 1901