gone, gone,—sold and gone,
to the rice-swamp dank and lone.
there no mother’s eye is near them,
there no mother’s ear can hear them;
never, when the torturing lash
seams their back with many a gash,
shall a mother’s kindness bless them,
or a mother’s arms caress them.
gone, gone,—sold and gone,
to the rice-swamp dank and lone,
from virginia’s hills and waters;
woe is me, my stolen daughters!