Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment

The chorus was usually the greater part of the song, and often came in paradoxically, thus:--

Xvi. O Yes, Lord.

O must I be like de foolish mans?
O yes, Lord!
Will build de house on de sandy hill.
O yes, Lord!
I'll build my house on Zion hill,
O yes, Lord!
No wind nor rain can blow me down,
O yes, Lord!

The next is very graceful and lyrical, and with more variety of rhythm than usual:--

Xvii. Bow low, Mary.

Bow low, Mary, bow low, Martha,
For Jesus come and lock de door,
And carry de keys away.
Sail, sail, over yonder,
And view de promised land.
For Jesus come, &c.
Weep, O Mary, bow low, Martha
For Jesus come, &c.
Sail, sail, my true believer;
Sail, sail, over yonder;
Mary, bow low, Martha, bow low,
For Jesus come and lock de door
And carry de keys away.

But of all the “spirituals” that which surprised me the most, I think,--perhaps because it was that in which external nature furnished the images most directly,was this. With all my experience of their ideal ways of speech, I was startled when first I came on such a flower of poetry in that dark soil.