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Runagate Runagate Lyrics by Robert Hayden

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I.
Runs falls rises stumbles on from darkness into darkness
and the darkness thicketed with shapes of terror
and the hunters pursuing and the hounds pursuing
and the night cold and the night long and the river
to cross and the jack-muh-lanterns beckoning beckoning
and blackness ahead and when shall I reach that somewhere
morning and keep on going and never turn back and keep on going
Runagate
    Runagate
        Runagate
Many thousands rise and go
many thousands crossing over
             O mythic North
        O star-shaped yonder Bible city
Some go weeping and some rejoicing
some in coffins and some in carriages
some in silks and some in shackles
    Rise and go or fare you well
No more auction block for me
no more driver's lash for me
    If you see my Pompey, 30 yrs of age,
    new breeches, plain stockings, negro shoes;
    if you see my Anna, likely young mulatto
    branded E on the right cheek, R on the left,
    catch them if you can and notify subscriber.
    Catch them if you can, but it won't be easy.
    They'll dart underground when you try to catch them,
    plunge into quicksand, whirlpools, mazes,
    turn into scorpions when you try to catch them.
And before I'll be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave
    North star and bonanza gold
    I'm bound for the freedom, freedom-bound
    and oh Susyanna don't you cry for me
        Runagate
        Runagate
II.
Rises from their anguish and their power,
        Harriet Tubman,
        woman of earth, whipscarred,
        a summoning, a shining
        Mean to be free
    And this was the way of it, brethren brethren,
    way we journeyed from Can't to Can.
    Moon so bright and no place to hide,
    the cry up and the patterollers riding,
    hound dogs belling in bladed air.
    And fear starts a-murbling, Never make it,
    we'll never make it. Hush that now,
    and she's turned upon us, levelled pistol
    glinting in the moonlight:
    Dead folks can't jaybird-talk, she says;
    you keep on going now or die, she says.
Wanted Harriet Tubman alias The General
alias Moses Stealer of Slaves
In league with Garrison Alcott Emerson
Garrett Douglass Thoreau John Brown
Armed and known to be Dangerous
Wanted Reward Dead or Alive
    Tell me, Ezekiel, oh tell me do you see
    mailed Jehovah coming to deliver me?
Hoot-owl calling in the ghosted air,
five times calling to the hants in the air.
Shadow of a face in the scary leaves,
shadow of a voice in the talking leaves:
    Come ride-a my train
    Oh that train, ghost-story train
    through swamp and savanna movering movering,
    over trestles of dew, through caves of the wish,
    Midnight Special on a sabre track movering movering,
    first stop Mercy and the last Hallelujah.
Come ride-a my train
    Mean mean mean to be free.
Credits
Robert Hayden

Robert Hayden

About “Runagate Runagate” by Robert Hayden

Read the complete lyrics to "Runagate Runagate" by Robert Hayden. On Lyrks you can follow along with the full text, explore the artist's discography, and discover related songs. The track is often categorized under Non-Music, Literature.

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"Runagate Runagate" is credited to Robert Hayden. Songwriting credits may include additional writers listed on the release; check the credits section on this page for linked collaborators.

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