Yearning To Be Free

Yearning To Be Free

In 1860, there came - three slave ships across the bounding main,

They carried 1,432 Africans you see - to lead a life in slavery,

They had been kidnapped one by one - mostly with the use of a gun,

They had been living happily - in a land where they chose to be,

But on that fateful day - slave traders came and took them away,

It didn't matter if they had families - and led a life of joy and ease,

These men took them away - for the money that others would pay,

Too bad if they didn't want to go - they had no choice, you know

No one cared what they thought - they were things to be sold and bought,

So what if all of them cried - so what if many of them died,

No one came to give them a hand - and save them from this merciless plan,

What kind of world is this - that good people fall under the fist,

God up above - who do you love?

It's very hard for me - to accept that this had to be,

By sheer luck, it was not to be - 'cause they never made it to slavery,

Outside of Key West - the U.S. Navy did its best,

The sailors took them away - from slave traders that day,

They brought them to Key West - where 294 were laid to rest,

Under what is now Higgs Beach - that's as far as those would reach,

They were all headed to Cuba - to live in slavery ever after,

It's a fate worse than death - hard work, whippings and then a cruel death,

You were lucky if you died - before they whipped off your hide,

Women were often raped - yes, they were forced to mate,

To make even more slaves - who were worked into early graves,

But these Africans got a chance - to give their homeland another glance,

They went home to Liberia - where they didn't have to live in fear,

There they could be free - the way it's supposed to be,

And not suffer and die in slavery!