Black eagle on the crest of the white Castle

He was brought in a crowded slave ship
He toiled and toiled in a Southern cotton field
Misery and degradation was the stipend he reaped
His haggard face was enlivened by the last dream
He floated back to his roots as the tribal chief

For generations it was a river of sorrow
Of blood and tears, defiant spirit and hopeless despair
Beyond redemption and cursed of the earth
Some revolted only to be tortured to death
"John Brown's soul goes marching on"

Lincoln made clarion call for their liberation,
At the cost of North South war of attrition
He freed them from legal shackles
A hired gun shattered his dream
Of commonwealth of free and social harmony

Blacks in daylight were free at night time they
were terror stricken
Daylight cops, sheriff and mayors were night time
hooded hoodlums
Burning crosses sowing terror of Ku Klux Klan
Blacks had no relief from the Northern 'wasp'
Only soul music kept their spirit alive

Joe Louis smashed the Hitler's super man
Jessie Owens became the Olympic speed man
Paul Robson's booming songs resonated on the world
But he was hounded and silenced by witch hunting
McCartney
His "ole man river was flowing seeking destiny"

Martin Luther King had a vision and a dream
Preaching and stirring people to a new theme
He roused the people against Vietnam War
Waggon trains clattered with people's power surge
But the merchants of death ended his breath

Civic right activist laid siege to racial schools
Black Panthers took arms only to be decimated
Anti war groups apposed merchants of death
But they could not dislodge money bags from power
The struggle was relentless with money, power
and people's power

Streams of many a faith and hue joined,
The river of dissent bursting its banks
Millions and millions raised their hands
To place the black eagle on the crest of the white castle
Hoping to see it soaring in a new direction
Fluting a song of messianic mission

Ole man river has merged with the ocean
John Brown's soul has gone into rest
Halle luja, Halle luja.... Halle luja...!

- G. H. A. Suraweera