Singing the Spirit Home lyrics

They came for him in the morning,

an hour before dawning,

the pale white moon was waning

in the African sky.

The cell door flew wide open,

and they stood looking at him,

he saw no mercy in their hearts,

no pity in their eyes.

As they took him and they bound him,

tied his trembling hands behind him,

he felt his courage leave him,

his manhood disappear.

His legs would not support him,

so from the cell they dragged him,

he sobbed and screamed and cursed them

in his loneliness and fear.

Chains, chains, chains…

how many souls have died in freedom’s name?

To some it is a way of life,

to others just a word.

To some it is a snow-white dove,

to some a bloody sword.

But until the last chains fall,

our freedom will make slaves of us all.

With faces closed and hidden,

the white guards walked beside him,

indifferent to his pleading;

they’d been down this path before.

But other eyes were watching,

and other ears were listening,

other hearts beat with him

in his final desperate hour.

From the darkness of that prison

came the sound of his brothers singing:

«Courage», their voices told him,

«you do not walk alone».

From their cells beyond the shadow,

he heard their voices echo,

as in love and pride and sorrow

they sang his spirit home.

Chains, chains, chains…

how many souls have died in freedom’s name?

To some it is a way of life,

to others just a word.

To some it is a snow-white dove,

to some a bloody sword.

But until the last chains fall,

our freedom will make slaves of us all.

And their song of hope and freedom,

it rang inside that prison,

it beat against the iron bars

and crashed against the stone.

As in their fear and hate they hung him,

the last sound that filled his being

was his brothers singing,

singing his spirit home.

«And courage, brother,

you do not walk alone.

And we shall walk with you

and sing your spirit home.»

«And courage, brother, (shosholoza, shosholoza)

you do not walk alone. (kulezo ntaba stimela siphume Zimbabwe)

And we shall walk with you (shosholoza, shosholoza)

and sing your spirit home.» (kulezo ntaba stimela siphume Zimbabwe)

«And courage, sister, (shosholoza, shosholoza)

you do not walk alone. (kulezo ntaba stimela siphume Zimbabwe)

And we shall walk with you (shosholoza, shosholoza)

and sing your spirit home.» (kulezo ntaba stimela siphume Zimbabwe)

Shosholoza, shosholoza

kulezo ntaba stimela siphume Zimbabwe.

Shosholoza, shosholoza

kulezo ntaba stimela siphume Zimbabwe.1

1. The chorus is an excerpt from Shosholoza, which was a traditional song of miners in South Africa. These miners were from different ethnic groups, and the song itself can vary accordingly, mixing words from different languages (the most common version mixes Ndebele and Zulu words).

One of these groups was the Ndebele; they travelled to South Africa from Zimbabwe by steam train.

The song was sung during the journey, and while toiling in the mines; it alleviated the hardship of the work and expressed solidarity among the workers.

The "shoo-shoo" part is also an onomatopoeia for the sound of the steam train.

The verses:

"shosholoza, shosholoza / kulezo ntaba / stimela siphume Zimbabwe"

roughly mean

"(shoo-shoo) move forward, (shoo-shoo) move forward / on those mountains / train from Zimbabwe"

See also here.