I am pleading for my people

A poor downtrodden race.

Who dwell in freedom’s boasted land with no abiding place.

I am pleading for the mothers

Who gaze in wild despair.

Upon the hated auction block

And see their children there.

And ain’t I a woman?

Look at me!

Look at my arm.

I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns,

and no man could head me,

And ain’t I a woman?

I could work as much and eat as much as a man 

when I could get it and bear the lash as well.

I have borne thirteen children,

and seen ’em most all sold off to slavery.

when I cried out with a mother’s grief none but Jesus heard me.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upsidedown all alone.

Who these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again.

Now they is asking to do it and the men better let ’em.

We have all been thrown down so low that nobody thought 

we’d ever come up again.

But we have been long enough trodden now;

we will come up again,

we will come up, and now, here I am,

I want to tell you these things 

that you will always remember.

I have done the best I could.

I have told the whole truth.

I’m going home, like a shooting star!

 

我在懇求我的人民

一個可憐受壓迫的種族。

住在自由的土地上，沒有住處。

我在懇求母親們

處在失控的絕望裡凝視周遭。

在討厭的拍賣區

並在那裡看到他們的孩子。

難道我不是個女人嗎？

看著我！

看看我的手臂。

我已經耕田、種植並把作物聚集到穀倉裡，

沒有人可以領著我，

難道我不是個女人嗎？

我可以像男人一樣工作一樣吃

我能如此同時，我也承受鞭打。

我已經生了十三個孩子，

並且看到他們大部分都賣了當奴隸。

當我哭著，身為母親如此悲傷時，耶穌沒有聽見我。

如果上帝創造的第一個女人，她的力量強大到足以讓世界完全顛倒過來。

這些女人聚在一起應該能夠把它轉回來並讓它回歸正確。

現在她們被要求這樣做，男人們最好讓她們去做。

我們都被拋到如此低下的位置，以至於沒有人想到

我們再來一次。

但是我們現在已經被蹂躪夠久了；

我們會再來一次，

我們會再來，現在，我在這裡，

我想告訴你這些事情

你將會永遠記得。

我盡了最大的努力。

我說的全是真相。

我要回家了，就像一個流星！