THE FAREWELL

Of a Virginia slave mother
to her daughters
sold into Southern bondage

[1.1]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[1.2]     To the rice swamp dank and lone.
[1.3]     There no mother's eye is near them,
[1.4]     There no mother's ear can hear them;
[1.5]     Never, when the torturing lash
[1.6]     Seams their back with many a gash,
[1.7]     Shall a mother's kindness bless them,
[1.8]     Or a mother's arms caress them.
[1.9]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[1.10]   To the rice swamp dank and lone,
[1.11]   From Virginia's hills and waters;
[1.12]   Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

[2.1]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[2.2]     To the rice swamp dank and lone.
[2.3]     Where the slave whip ceaseless swings,
[2.4]     Where the noisome insect stings,
[2.5]     Where the fever demon strews
[2.6]     Poison with the falling dews,
[2.7]     Where the sickly sunbeams glare
[2.8]     Through the hot and misty air;
[2.9]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[2.10]   To the rice swamp dank and lone,
[2.11]   From Virginia's hills and waters;
[2.12]   Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

[3.1]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[3.2]     To the rice swamp dank and lone.
[3.3]     Oh, when weary, sad, and slow,
[3.4]     From the fields at night they go,
[3.5]     Faint with toil, and racked with pain,
[3.6]     To their cheerless homes again,
[3.7]     There no brother's voice shall greet them,
[3.8]     There no father's welcome meet them.
[3.9]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[3.10]   To the rice swamp dank and lone,
[3.11]   From Virginia's hills and waters;
[3.12]   Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

[4.1]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[4.2]     To the rice swamp dank and lone.
[4.3]     From the tree whose shadow lay
[4.4]     On their childhood's place of play;
[4.5]     From the cool spring where they drank;
[4.6]     Rock, and hill, and rivulet bank;
[4.7]     From the solemn house of prayer,
[4.8]     And the holy counsels there;
[4.9]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[4.10]   To the rice swamp dank and lone,
[4.11]   From Virginia's hills and waters;
[4.12]   Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

[5.1]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[5.2]     To the rice swamp dank and lone;
[5.3]     Toiling through the weary day,
[5.4]     And at night the spoiler's prey.
[5.5]     Oh, that they had earlier died,
[5.6]     Sleeping calmly, side by side,
[5.7]     Where the tyrant's power is o'er,
[5.8]     And the fetter galls no more!
[5.9]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[5.10]   To the rice swamp dank and lone,
[5.11]   From Virginia's hills and waters;
[5.12]   Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

[6.1]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[6.2]     To the rice swamp dank and lone.
[6.3]     By the holy love He beareth;
[6.4]     By the bruisèd reed He spareth;                     [Matthew 12:20]
[6.5]     Oh, may He, to whom alone
[6.6]     All their cruel wrongs are known,
[6.7]     Still their hope and refuge prove,
[6.8]     With a more than mother's love.
[6.9]     Gone, gone,—sold and gone,
[6.10]   To the rice swamp dank and lone,
[6.11]   From Virginia's hills and waters;
[6.12]   Woe is me, my stolen daughters!