Page:Memoir and poems of Phillis Wheatley, a native African and a slave.djvu/121

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phillis wheatley.
115

AN ANSWER TO THE REBUS.

By the Author of these Poems.

The poet asks, and Phillis can't refuse
To shew th' obedience of the Infant Muse.
She knows the Quail, of most inviting taste,
Fed Israel's army in the dreary waste;
And what's on Britain's royal standard borne,
But the tall, graceful, rampant unicorn?
The Emerald with a vivid verdure glows
Among the gems which regal crowns compose;
Boston's a town, polite and debonair,
To which the beaux and beauteous nymphs repair.
Each Helen strikes the mind with sweet surprise,
While living lightning flashes from her eyes.
See young Euphorbus, of the Dardan line,
By Menelaus' hand to death resign:
The well-known peer, of popular applause,
Is C———m, zealous to support our laws.
Quebec, now vanquished, must obey,
She, too, must annual tribute pay
To Britain, of immortal fame,
And add new glory to her name.