Raymond Garfield Dandridge, "Toussaint L'Ouverture" (1920)
Through ages down Time's ceaseless span,
An endless, vivid caravan,
His mem'ry wends to ever be
An inspiration to the Free.
Fearless, black, unlettered slave,
From nowhere, sprang in time to save
The freedom of a fault'ring band,
A tremble 'neath a tyrant's hand.
Tricked, trapped, ah, yes, betrayed!
He died a man's death, unafraid;
And dying thus gave proof that he
Was fit to live—eternally.
Published in The Poet and Other Poems (1920)