 | The Emancipation Car |  |
THE DYING SLAVE-HOLDER.
O, death! I feel thy icy hand;
Cold drops of sweat now thickly stand
All o'er my trembling frame.
A gulf I see, both dark and drear,
While shrieks of fiends salute my ear,
And fills my soul with pain.
Cold drops of sweat now thickly stand
All o'er my trembling frame.
A gulf I see, both dark and drear,
While shrieks of fiends salute my ear,
And fills my soul with pain.
I look no way but what I see
His great Satanic Majesty
On fiery billows stand.
Beneath his feet red liquid rolls,
While all around ten thousand souls
Obey his dread command.
His great Satanic Majesty
On fiery billows stand.
Beneath his feet red liquid rolls,
While all around ten thousand souls
Obey his dread command.
My pulse grows faint and fainter still—
And in my ears the infernal knell
Is tolling every breath.
My parched lips I scarce can move,
I cannot raise my thoughts above;
I'm not prepared for death.
And in my ears the infernal knell
Is tolling every breath.
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I cannot raise my thoughts above;
I'm not prepared for death.
Strange spirits passing too and fro.
Say I must now to judgment go,
To stand before my God.
My mind is filled with doubt and gloom;
O, God! must I now meet my doom,
And feel thy chastening rod?
Say I must now to judgment go,
To stand before my God.
My mind is filled with doubt and gloom;
O, God! must I now meet my doom,
And feel thy chastening rod?
O! must my guilty soul be hurled
Before the judge of all the world;
All stained with human blood.
I cannot go, I'm not prepared,
Thus to receive my just reward;
In yonder fiery flood.
Before the judge of all the world;
All stained with human blood.
I cannot go, I'm not prepared,
Thus to receive my just reward;
In yonder fiery flood.
O, tell me fiends, must all my guilt—
Must all the blood that I have spilt,
Go with me to the bar?
O, yes! O yes! beyond a doubt,
My vital spark is almost out,
My sins will meet me there.
Must all the blood that I have spilt,
Go with me to the bar?
O, yes! O yes! beyond a doubt,
My vital spark is almost out,
My sins will meet me there.
I was deceived—I did not think
That I was standing on the brink
“Of everlasting woe.”
I hoped for many months and years,
But now the monster Death appears,
And I must shortly go.
That I was standing on the brink
“Of everlasting woe.”
I hoped for many months and years,
But now the monster Death appears,
And I must shortly go.
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O! must I meet those helpless slaves
Upon whose back my lash engraved
Those long and numerous scars?
While I shall writhe in endless pain,
And clank my hot and sluggish chains.
They'll wear a crown of stars.
Upon whose back my lash engraved
Those long and numerous scars?
While I shall writhe in endless pain,
And clank my hot and sluggish chains.
They'll wear a crown of stars.
I've killed, wronged and robbed my slaves,
Now I must fill a tyrant's grave—
A tyrant's Hell endure.
Now I must go! my friends, farewell;
I'm going now with fiends to dwell,
For my damnation's sure.
Now I must fill a tyrant's grave—
A tyrant's Hell endure.
Now I must go! my friends, farewell;
I'm going now with fiends to dwell,
For my damnation's sure.
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