Amazing Grace, a fine film about William Wilberforce's long campaign to abolish the slave trade (shown on STV last Friday), served as a reminder of this powerful sonnet on the subject by the Guyanese-born John Agard in his 2006 collection We Brits.
John Newton (1725-1807) was a slave-ship captain who realised the iniquity of the trade, became a Christian minister and composed many hymns, including that most poignant one, Amazing Grace.
NEWTON'S AMAZING GRACE
Grace is not a word for which I had much use.
And I skippered ships that did more than bruise
the face of the Atlantic. I carved my name
in human cargo without a thought of shame.
But the sea's big enough for a man to lose
his conscience, if not his puny neck.
In the sea's eye, who is this upstart speck
That calls himself a maker of history?
It took a storm to save the dumb wretch in me.
On a night the winds weighed heavy as my sins,
I spared a thought for those poor souls below deck.
Terror made rough waters my Damascus road.
Amazing grace began to lead me home.
Lord, let my soul's scum be measured by a hymn.
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