XIV
OF THE SORROW SONGS
I walk through the churchyard
To lay this body down;
I know moon-rise, I know star-rise;
I walk in the moonlight, I walk in the starlight;
I'll lie in the grave and stretch out my arms,
I'll go to judgment in the evening of the day,
And my soul and thy soul shall meet that day,
When I lay this body down.
![\relative c' {
\key bes \major \time 4/4
\numericTimeSignature
\override Score.BarNumber #'break-visibility = #'#(#f #f #f)
\repeat volta 2 {
\autoBeamOff \stemUp
f4. ees8 d f bes bes
\stemDown
c4. bes16 c d8 c r4
\stemUp
<d, f>4. <c ees>8 <bes d> <d f> <g ees'> <g ees'>16 <g ees'>
<f d'>8 <f d'> <ees c'> <ees c'> <d bes'>2 }
}](http://upload.wikimedia.org/score/l/q/lq2z9glqsvia5wg5nl2pap0avmk7l4l/lq2z9glq.png)
THEY that walked in darkness sang songs in the olden days—Sorrow Songs—for they were weary at heart. And so before each thought that I have written in this book I have set a phrase, a haunting echo of these weird old songs in which the soul of the black slave spoke to men. Ever since I was a child these songs have stirred me strangely. They came out of the South unknown to me, one by one, and yet at once I knew them as of me and of mine. Then in after years when I came to Nashville I saw the great temple builded of these