Reprinted from "Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Celebration of Black Prayer" from the Schomburg Center, published by the Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster.


Free at last, free at last,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.

The very time I thought I was lost,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last;
My dungeon shook and my chains fell off,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last,
This is religion, I do know,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last;
For I never felt such a love before,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.



May he support us all the day long,
till the shadows lengthen
and the evening comes
and the busy world is hushed
and the fever of life is over
and our work is done-
then in his mercy-
may he give us a safe lodging
and a holy rest
and peace at the last.


Princes shall come out of Egypt,
Ethiopia shall stretch forth her
hand unto God. Oh thou God
of Ethiopia, thou God of divine
majesty, thy spirit come within our
hearts to dwell in the pasts of righteousness.
That the hungry be fed,
the sick nourished, the aged protected,
and the infant cared for. Teach us
love and loyalty as it is in Zion.



Oh yes, fix me, Jesus, fix me.
Fix me so that I can walk on
a little while longer.
Fix me so that I can pray on
just a little bit harder.
Fix me so that I can sing on
just a little bit louder.
Fix me so that I can go on despite the pain,
The fear, the doubt, and yes, the anger,
I ask not that you take this cross from me,
only that you give me the strength to continue carrying it onward `til my dying day.
Oh, fix me, Jesus, fix me.

I want Jesus to walk with me,
I want Jesus to walk with me,
All along my pilgrim journey,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.

In my trials, Lord, walk with me,
In my trials, Lord, walk with me,
When the shades of life are falling,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.



Oh God! Receive the morning greetings!
Ancestors! Receive the morning greetings!
We are here on the chosen day,
We are going to sow the seed,
We are going out to cultivate.
Oh God! Cause the millet to germinate,
Make the eight seeds sprout,
And the ninth calabash.

Give a wife to him who has none!
And to him who has a wife without children
Give a child!
Protect the men against thorns,
Against snake-bites,
Against ill winds!

Pour out the rain,
As we our water from a pot!
Millet! Come!



Lord, I am happy this morning,
Birds and angels sing and I am exultant.
The universe and our hearts are open to your grace.
I feel my body and give thanks.
The sun burns my skin and I thank you.
The breakers are rolling toward the seashore,
The sea foam splashes our house.
I give thanks.

Lord, I rejoice in your creation,
and that you are behind it, and before,
and next to it, and above -- and within us.