The Ballad of the Free

By Margaret Walker

Bold Nat Turner by the blood of God

Rose up Preaching on Virginia's sod;

Smote the land with his passionate plea

Time's done come to set my people free.

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

     The last shall be first and first shall be none

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

Gabriel Prosser loosed at the sun,

Said, "Sun, stand still til the work is done.

The world is wide and the time is long

And man must be the avenging wrong."

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

     The last shall be first and first shall be none

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

Denmark led his band

Across the hot Carolina land.

The plot was foiled, the brave men killed,

But Freedom's cry was never stilled.

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

     The last shall be first and first shall be none

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

Toussaint L'Overture won

All his battles in the tropic sun

Hero of the black man's pride

Among those hundred who fought and died.

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

     The last shall be first and first shall be none

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

Brave John Brown was killed but he

Became a martyr of the free,

For he declared that blood would run

Before the slaves their freedom won.

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

     The last shall be first and first shall be none

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

Wars and Rumors of Wars have gone

But Freedom's Army marches on

The heroes' list of dead is long.

And Freedom still is for the strong.

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come

     The last shall be first and first shall be none

     The serpent is loosed and the hour is come