When I think on the course I have run

From my childhood itself to this day,

I tremble, and fain would I shun,
The remembrance its terrors array.

I marvel at struggles endured,
With a destiny frightful as mine,
At the strength for such efforts: – assured

Tho’ I am, ’tis in vain to repine.

I have known this sad life thirty years,

And to me, thirty years it has been
Of suff’ring, o f sorrow and tears,

Ev’ry day of its bondage ‘ve seen.

But ’tis nothing the past – or the pains,

Hitherto I have struggled to bear,
When I think, oh my God! On the chains,

That I know I’m yet destined to wear.