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Lift

Every Voice

and Sing

James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)

February 28, 2025

Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring;
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty.
Let our rejoicing rise
H
igh as the list’ning skies;
L
et it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith
th
at the dark past has taught us.
Si
ng a song full of the hope
that the present has brought us.
Fac
ing the rising sun
of o
ur new day begun,
Let
us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter
the chast’ning rod;
Felt i
n the days when hope
unborn
had died.
Yet wit
h a steady beat,
Have not
our weary feet
Come to
the place
for which
our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way
that with
tears has been watered.
We have co
me, treading our path
through the
blood of the slaughtered.
Out from th
e gloomy past,
Till now we s
tand at last;
Where the wh
ite gleam
of our bright
star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silen
t tears;
Thou who hast b
rought
us thus far on th
e way.
Thou who hast by
Thy might,
Led us into the li
ght;
Keep us forever i
n the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places,
our God, where we
met Thee.
Lest our hearts, d
runk with the wine
of the world, we fo
rget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Th
y hand,
May we forever stand,

True to our God, True to our native land.