Lloyd E. Lawrence Sr

AMAZING THING

Timbers creaked in the ship’s dank hold,
Echoing moans of blackest gold
To a slaver captain waxing old;
His conscience pricked amidst the mold.

Returned he home six hundred blacks;
He freed them from their shackled racks.
Yes, home again to thatch built shacks,
With yokes removed from whip-scarred backs.

He sold his ship when he got home
And found The God his youth had known.
A contrite wretch with tears on face
Then wrote the hymn, “Amazing Grace.”
What’s more than that amazing thing,
A slaver wrote what Negroes sing.

©Copyright 2003 by Lloyd E. Lawrence, Sr

Author’s Note: Paul Harvey told a story about the author of “Amazing Grace” on the popular radio program “The Rest of The Story.” I heard it and it gave birth to “Amazing Thing.”; a sonnet, about the Ship Captain who forsook the life of a Slaver after going below ship and seeing what a wretch he had become.