SIMON LEGREE

Vachel Lindsay

 

A Negro Sermon

 

Solo 1:       Legree’s big house was white and green.

                   His cotton fields were the best to be seen.

                   He had strong horses and opulent cattle,

                   And bloodhounds bold, with chains that would rattle.

                   His garret was full of curious things:

                   Books of magic, bags of gold,

All:             And rabbits’ feet on long twine strings,

                   But he went down to the devil.

 

Solo 2:       Legree, he sported a brass-buttoned coat,

                   A snake-skin necktie, a blood-red shirt.

                   Legree, he had a beard like a goat,

                   And a thick hairy neck, and eyes like dirt.

                   His puffed-out checks were fish-belly white,

                   He had great long teeth, and an appetite.

 

Solo 3:       He ate raw meat, ‘most every meal,

                   And rolled his eyes till the cat would squeal.

                   His fist was an enormous size

                   To mash poor slave men that told him lies;

                   He was surely a witch-man in disguise.

All:             But he went down to the devil.

 

Solo 4:       he wore hip-boots, and would wade all day

                   To capture his slaves that had fled away.

All:             But he went down to the devil.

Solo 5:       He beat poor Uncle Tom to death

                   Who prayed for Legree with his last breath.

                   Then Uncle Tom to Eva flew,

                   To the high sanctoriums bright and new;

                   And Simon Legree stared up beneath,

                   And cracked his heels, and ground his teeth:

All:             And went down to the devil.

 

 

Solo 6:       He crossed the yard in the storm and gloom;

                   He went into his grand front room

                   He said “I killed him, and I don’t care.”

                   He kicked a hound, he gave a swear;

                   He tightened his belt, he took a lamp,

                   Went down cellar to the webs and damp.

                   There in the middle of the moldy floor

                   He heaved up a slab; he found a door—

All:             And went down to the devil.

Solo 7:       His lamp blew out, but his eyes burned bright.

                   Simon Legree stepped down all night—

All:             Down, down to the devil.

Solo 7:       Simon Legree he reached the place,

                   He saw one half of the human race,

                   He saw the devil on a wide green throne,

                   Gnawing the meat from a big hambone,

All:             And he said to Mister Devil:

Solo 8:       “I see that you have much to eat—

                   A red ham-bone is surely sweet.

                   I see that you have lion’s feet

                   I see your frame is fat and fine,

                   I see you drink your poison wine—

                   Blood and burning turpentine.

 

All:             And the Devil said to Simon Legree:

Solo 9:       “I like your style, so wicked and free.

                   Come sit and share my throne with me,

                   And let us bark and revel.”

All:             And there they sit and gnash their teeth,

                   And each one wears a hop-vine wreath.

                   They are matching pennies and shooting craps,

                   They’re playing poker and taking naps.

Solo 10:     And old Legree is fat and fine;

                   He eats the fire, he drinks the wine—

                   Blood and burning turpentine—

All:             Down, down with the Devil;

                             Down, down with the Devil;

                                      Down, down with the Devil.

                  

                   (chuckle)