Slave Song
A. Hailstork
Go on, go on, oh ships!
You are loosed from your moorings...you are free; and I am fast in my
chains...a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly
before the bloody whip! You are freedom's swift-winged angels, that fly
around the world; I am confined in bands of iron! O that I were free!
O, that I were on one of your gallant decks...under your protecting wing!
Go on, go on, oh ships!
...Why was I born a man...to make a brute! Why am I a slave? O God, save me...
deliver me! Let me be free! I shall not live and die as a slave.
I will not stand it. Get caught, or get clear, I'll try it...I had rather get...
killed running as die standing.
Go on, go on, oh ships!
...Only think of it; one hundred miles straight north, and I am free!...
I will take to the water. I will...walk straight through Delaware...
and when I get there, I shall not be required to have a pass.
Go on, go on, oh ships! Only think of it; one hundred miles straight north,
and I am free! Shall I try it?