Sunday 31 March 2019

The Lost Herõon of All Saints









Toussaint Louverture himself, he died in that prison in the Jura, he died on the 14th April 1803

And he died alone, and old - and nobody knows where he is buried.

As far as I know, there’s no plaque, there’s no burial ground, there’s no tomb, there’s no mausoleum, no mummification —


Someone came to the Young William Wordsworth and said 

“Toussaint Louverture is Dead somewhere in Switzerland, We-Know-Not-Where, he’s died,
and he’s not even buried somewhere —


TOUSSAINT, the most unhappy man of men!
  Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough
  Within thy hearing, or thy head be now
Pillowed in some deep dungeon’s earless den;—
O miserable Chieftain! where and when         
  Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not; do thou
  Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow:
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,
Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind
  Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies;         
There’s not a breathing of the common wind
  That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
  And love, and man’s unconquerable mind.

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