When on life's ocean first I spread my sail,
I then implored a mild auspicious gale;
And from the slippery strand I took my flight,
And sought the peaceful haven of delight.
Horton begins an extended metaphor in which he is a sailboat and life is an ocean, etc. He yearns for favorable winds of success but suffers the tyranny of slavery 
 His poetry was a means of idependence. He hoped to set sail on his own terms to purchase his freedom and save enough to return to Liberia. Though he didn’t earn enough for either goal, “brought attention to him as a poet and as another example of the Negro’s genius” (Farrison). 
 Farrison, W. Edward. “George Moses Horton: Poet for Freedom.” CLA Journal 14.3 (Mar. 1971): 227-241. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Juliet Byington and Suzanne Dewsbury. Vol. 87. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
On Hearing of a Gentleman to Purchase the Poets Freedom