Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

The Witnesses

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“The Witnesses” as printed in Poems on Slavery (1842).

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Selected Lyrics Text 8 1842 · historical text
Public domainHistorical songAbolition song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from Poems on Slavery, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

In Ocean's wide domains,

Half buried in the sands,

Lie skeletons in chains,

With shackled feet and hands.

Verse 2

Beyond the fall of dews,

Deeper than plummet lies,

Float ships, with all their crews,

No more to sink or rise.

Verse 3

There the black Slave-ship swims,

Freighted with human forms,

Whose fettered, fleshless limbs

Are not the sport of storms.

Verse 4

These are the bones of Slaves;

They gleam from the abyss;

They cry, from yawning waves,

"We are the Witnesses!"

Verse 5

Within Earth's wide domains

Are markets for men's lives;

Their necks are galled with chains,

Their wrists are cramped with gyves.

Verse 6

Dead bodies, that the kite

In deserts makes its prey;

Murders, that with affright

Scare schoolboys from their play!

Verse 7

All evil thoughts and deeds;

Anger, and lust, and pride;

The foulest, rankest weeds,

That choke Life's groaning tide!

Verse 8

These are the woes of Slaves;

They glare from the abyss;

They cry, from unknown graves,

"We are the Witnesses!"

Credits

Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Historical text published in Poems on Slavery (1842); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

Poems on Slavery (1842), “The Witnesses”

Every text in this 1842 collection is by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), who died more than 140 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-27. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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