The Fugitive’s Wife + 

It was my sad and weary lot + 

To toil in slavery; + 

But one thing cheered my lowly cot⁠— + 

My husband was with me. + 

One evening, as our children played + 

Around our cabin door, + 

I noticed on his brow a shade + 

I’d never seen before; + 

And in his eyes a gloomy night + 

Of anguish and despair;⁠— + 

I gazed upon their troubled light, + 

To read the meaning there. + 

He strained me to his heaving heart⁠— + 

My own beat wild with fear; + 

I knew not, but I sadly felt + 

There must be evil near. + 

He vainly strove to cast aside + 

The tears that fell like rain:⁠— + 

Too frail, indeed, is manly pride, + 

To strive with grief and pain. + 

Again he clasped me to his breast, + 

And said that we must part: + 

I tried to speak⁠—but, oh! it seemed + 

An arrow reached my heart. + 

“Bear not!” I cried, “unto your grave, + 

The yoke you’ve borne from birth; + 

No longer live a helpless slave, + 

The meanest thing on earth!” + 