Loud he sang the psalm of David! <br />He, a Negro and enslaved, <br />Sang of Israel's victory, <br />Sang of Zion, bright and free. <br />In that hour, when night is calmest, <br />Sang he from the Hebrew Psalmist, <br />In a voice so sweet and clear <br />That I could not choose but hear, <br />Songs of triumph, and ascriptions, <br />Such as reached the swart Egyptians, <br />When upon the Red Sea coast <br />Perished Pharaoh and his host. <br />And the voice of his devotion <br />Filled my soul with strange emotion; <br />For its tones by turns were glad, <br />Sweetly solemn, wildly sad. <br />Paul and Silas, in their prison, <br />Sang of Christ, the Lord arisen. <br />And an earthquake's arm of might <br />Broke their dungeon-gates at night. <br />But, alas! what holy angel <br />Brings the Slave this glad evangel? <br />And what earthquake's arm of might <br />Breaks his dungeon-gates at night?<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-slave-singing-at-midnight/
