English

I woke up this mornin' 'bout four o'clock.
Mr. Kassie tol' the fireman get his boiler hot.
Put on your water, put on your coal,
Put your head out de window, see my drivers roll,
See my drivers roll.
Put your head out de window, see my drivers roll.

Lord, some people said Mr. Kassie couldn't run;
Let me tell you what Mr. Kassie done:
He left Memphis was a quarter to nine,
Got into Newport News it was dinnah time,
It was dinnah time.
Got into Newport News it was dinnah time.

I well remember how some threescore years
And ten ago, a helpless babe, I toddled
From chair to chair about my mother's chamber,
Feeling, as 'twere, my way in the new world
And foolishly afraid of, or, as 't might be,
Foolishly pleased with, th' unknown objects round me.
And now with stiffened joints I sit all day
In one of those same chairs, as foolishly
Hoping or fearing something from me hid
Behind the thick, dark veil which I see hourly
And minutely on every side round closing
And from my view all objects shutting out.

I washed my face in water
That neither rained nor run.
I dried my face on a towel
That was neither wove nor spun.

Ishall steal upon her
Where she sits so white,
Creep-mouse, creep-mouse,
In the twilight.

She sits in the shadows,
Dreamy, dreamy—
I shall go stealthily
So she cannot see me.

I shall steal behind her
And kiss her on the cheek
And cover up her wee mouth
So she cannot speak.

I would fain surprise her
If so be I might,
Creep-mouse, creep-mouse,
In the twilight!

I ride through a dark, dark Land by night,
Where moon is none and no stars lend light,
And rueful winds are blowing,
Yet oft have I trodden this way ere now,
With summer zephyrs a-fanning my brow,
And the gold of the sunshine glowing.

I roam by a gloomy Garden-wall;
The deathstricken leaves around me fall;
And the night-blast wails its dolors;
How oft with my love I have hitherward strayed
When the roses flowered, and all I surveyed
Was radiant with Hope's own colors!

I know I have a lot of faults
I never even see,
But my neighbor knows about them,
For he is watching me!

I try to walk exemplary,
Obeying God's commands,
But never see the little sins
My neighbor understands!

I readily can see his faults,
They stand out sharp and strong,
And am amazed he cannot see
What is so clearly wrong.

And then I am convicted
As the Spirit whispers low,
“If you would truly judge yourself,
No judgment you would know.”

I humbly ask God's pardon,

I hear leaves drinking rain;
I hear rich leaves on top
Giving the poor beneath
Drop after drop;
'Tis a sweet noise to hear
These green leaves drinking near.

And when the Sun comes out,
After this Rain shall stop,
A wondrous Light will fill
Each dark, round drop;
I hope the Sun shines bright:
'Twill be a lovely sight.

Ihear in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses,
All day, on the road, the hoofs of invisible horses;
All night, from their stalls, the importunate tramping and neighing.
Let cowards and laggards fall back! but alert to the saddle,
Straight, grim, and abreast, go the weatherworn, galloping legion,
With a stirrup-cup each to the lily of women that loves him.

The trail is through dolor and dread, over crags and morasses;
There are shapes by the way, there are things that appal or entice us:

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,
And each damp thing that creeps and crawls
Went wobble-wobble on the walls.

Faint odours of departed cheese,
Blown on the dank, unwholesome breeze,
Awoke the never-ending sneeze.

Strange pictures decked the arras drear,
Strange characters of woe and fear,
The humbugs of the social sphere.

One showed a vain and noisy prig,
That shouted empty words and big
At him that nodded in a wig.

And one, a dotard grim and gray,
Who wasteth childhood's happy day

Ibring you the scent of the earth on my body,
The smell of the leaves in my hair;
I come with the wind and the water upon me,
And never a care!