The Emancipation Car :: :: University of Virginia Library

I stand as a freeman upon the Northern bank
Of old Erie, this fresh water Sea,
And it cheers my very soul
To behold the billows roll,
And to think, like those waves, I am free.

Old master, I pray thee, do not come after me,
For I can't be a slave any more;
I'm beyond the tyrant's law—
Safe beneath the Lion's paw,
And he'll growl if you come near the shore.

I am free as the waters that roll at my feet
Or the sea-gull that glides slowly by,
And no hammer do I hear,
Nor the dread Auctioneer,
And the driver and lash I defy.

Old master and mistress, pray don't grieve after me
Though the waters between us are wide,

Here the atmosphere is pure,
And my freedom secure,
For old JOHNNY is close by my side.

O, don't you remember that tall towering oak,
Where you put on my last “forty-four”
When he bows his lofty head,
To behold where I bled—
O, remember, I'll bleed there no more.

O, don't you remember the promise that you made,
To my old mother's dying request?
That I never should be sold,
Not for silver nor gold,
While the sun rolled from the East to the West.

O! don't you remember as soon as she was dead,
E'en the grass had not grown on her grave?
I was advertised for sale,
And would now be in jail,
Had I not crossed the old dancing waves.

And now while I'm standing upon the water's brink,
I can raise both my hands free from chains.
I disdain the tyrant's power,
From this very hour,
Or the land where the bold tyrant reigns.