詹姆士‧威爾頓‧約翰遜,J‧羅瑟蒙德‧約翰遜
(JAMES WELDON JOHNSON AND J. ROSAMOND JOHNSON)

人人引吭高歌
Life Ev'ry Voice and Sing


    詹姆士‧威爾頓‧約翰遜 (1871 - 1938)與其兄弟羅瑟蒙德‧約翰遜 (1873-1954)於1900年,為慶祝林肯誕辰,一道創作了《人人引吭高歌》。這首歌先由佛羅里達的傑克遜維爾地區的黑人學童演唱,而後流行成為「黑人國歌」。羅瑟蒙德‧約翰遜後來成為優秀的作曲家,威爾頓‧約翰遜成為著名作家、詩人、民權運動領袖。


人人引吭高歌,

直至天地與之共和,

和出自由的交響;

讓我們歡呼縱情,

直衝上側耳傾聽的天頂,

讓這歡呼聲壓過翻騰的海洋。

唱一首歌,讓它充滿黑暗時光教給

    我們的信仰,

唱一首歌,讓它充滿當今時代給予

    我們的希望。

迎著新的一天初升的太陽,

讓我們前進,直至凱歌飛揚。

我們爬過崎嶇道,

身挨罰杖毒鞭敲,

那年月,希望破滅母腹中;

可疲乏跋涉未卻步,

堅定走完祖先的路,

於今不是已聞祖先在此

    歎苦衷?

我們爬過的路,痛苦的淚水

    洗刷過;

我們爬過的路,受害的血水

    淹沒過。

掙扎出昨日的黑暗,終於挺立於

    今天,

白熾的星光多燦爛,終於照進我

    心間。

我們疲乏日子中的上帝,

我們默默流淚時的上帝,

你帶領我們定過漫長的道,

全憑你的力量,

指引我們見光亮,

請永保我們走正道,我們祈禱。

上帝啊,為免我們誤入歧途,

    脫離你我相會處,

心靈啊,為免喝醉世俗的酒,

    而把你給記糊塗,

求你伸出庇護的手,讓我們保佑:

    永遠挺立,

效忠心中的上帝,效忠故園的土地。

 

Lift ev'ry voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
Vie have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path thro' the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.