"Song of the Negro Boatmen" (1862)
Written by John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892. 
Composed by Robbins Battell.

New York: S. T. Gordon, 706 Broadway
[Source: 066/086@Levy]

1. Oh praise an’ tanks! 
De Lord he come 
To set de people free; 
An’ massa tink it day ob doom, 
An’ we ob jubilee. 
De Lord dat heap de Red Sea waves 
He jus’ as ’trong as den; 
He say de word: we las’ night slaves; 
To day, de Lord’s freemen.

CHORUS [sung after each verse]
De yam will grow, de cotten blow, 
We’ll had de rice an’ corn, 
Oh, nebber you fear, if nebber you hear 
De driver blow his horn!

2. Ole massa on he trabbels gone;
He leab de land behind:
De Lord’s breff blow him furder on,
Like cornshuck in de wind,
We own de hoe, we own de plough,
We own de hands dat hold;
We sell de pig, we sell de cow,
But nebber chile be sold.

3. We pray de Lord; he gib us signs
Dat some day we be free;
De Norfwind tell it to de pines,
De wild duck to de sea;
We tink it when de churchbell ring,
We dream it in de dream
De ricebird mean it when he sing,
De eagle when he scream.

4. We know de promise nebber fail,
An’ nebber lie de word;
So, like de ’postles in de jail,
We waited for de Lord;
An’ now he open ebery door,
An’ trow away de key;
He tink we lub Him so before,
We lub Him better free.