MAMA WIND (re slave ships) By David Buckley of Kimber’s Men (Retired) (written pre 2012) Tweaked: "trade" replaced with "stain" in chorus
Oh-oh Mama Wind blow me home, blow me home Oh-oh Mama Wind wash this stain from my soul
We take him from his home from his village and his kin We beat him and we chain him for the color of his skin A space of thirteen inches is all he has to lay A space of thirteen inches in which he has to pray
Oh-oh Mama Wind blow me home, blow me home Oh-oh Mama Wind wash this stain from my soul
The sound of the lash is the language that he heeds His life is worth nothing but a handful of glass beads Onboard this ship his brother, his mother, and his wife Have all said goodbye to this unholy life
Oh-oh Mama Wind blow me home, blow me home Oh-oh Mama Wind wash this stain from my soul
Three hundred on board is considered a great prize But every face you look at, the light has left their eyes Every inch onboard our ship is measured to a fee And if they’re sick or dying we throw them in the sea
Oh-oh Mama Wind blow me home, blow me home Oh-oh Mama Wind wash this stain from my soul
The faces that now haunt me won’t leave me night or day Every painful lash I feel in every place I lay Each tormented moment burns me through and through I only pray this sickening ship will carry me home to you
Oh-oh Mama Wind blow me home, blow me home Oh-oh Mama Wind wash this stain from my soul
Now the terrors come to me each night, for all the things I’ve done The sickness that I feel inside means my time on earth has run Let their memory be my witness, as tears run down my face Let my God be the judge of me in my final resting place