The poem speaks of the following emotions:
1. Nostalgia
"bathed in the Euphrates when the dawns were young"
" built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep"
- These lines suggest of a distant memory that is calming and happy for the author. It creates a scenery of innocence and being carefree.
2. Remembered the kind of life that slaves had through the centuries
"I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it"
" Heard the singing of the Mississippi"
- These lines suggest that through the course of history, the magnificent structures that the world has seen was through the hard labor, blood, sweat, and tears of slaves like the speaker. Behind the beauty are the untold stories of people who toiled day and night just to complete these structures.
3. Looking forward to sunset where finally he can lay to rest
" I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset"
- This line suggests that all slaves like him look forward to the sunset because it is the only promising aspect of the day when he can finally lay down his tools and get some rest. Toiling under the hot sun all day, it is a brief moment during the sunset when he can finally appreciate his day's labor
4. Speaker feels that the River is his one and only ally
"I've known rivers"
"Ancient dusky rivers"
"my soul is deep like the rivers"
-Here the speaker suggests that rivers run deep just like the history of the slaves that ran with it. The empires that has passed and the drowned stories of the slaves are what he pertains to by "dusky rivers". He means in "my soul runs deep" that he finds affinity with these rivers because that is where there history as a slave started.