Forty Lashes

Sixteen years in Soma’s shade,

From my path I never strayed,

Labored hard, saw no pay,

And took my lashes, every day.

Forty lashes when I work,

Forty lashes when I shirk,

Forty lashes when I pray,

For no more lashes on this day.

I questioned once my sacred cause,

The foreman set me straight of course,

He told me “work shall set you free,

Forty lashes, devotee.”

Forty lashes till I plead,

Forty lashes till I bleed,

Forty lashes till I pray,

For no more lashes on this day.

That holy man had debts unpaid,

I found myself a galley slave,

The ship took flight for System Three,

And forty lashes came with me.

Forty lashes when I weep,

Forty lashes when I sleep,

Forty lashes when I pray,

For no more lashes on this day.

Seven years ‘board living hell,

Till pirates cracked the good ship’s shell,

Broke my masters, broke my chains,

Said “come and live the life profane.”

Forty lashes till I cry,

Forty lashes till I die,

Forty lashes till I pray,

For no more lashes on this day.

Four years now gone renegade,

Working in the devil’s trade,

May be sordid, least it's free,

And no man lays the lash to me.

Forty lashes when I sweat,

Forty lashes, pay the debt,

Forty lashes when I pray,

For no more lashes on this day.

(The final verse is often omitted from various versions of the song)

And then one day I come to find,

A human captive, bound and blind,

Captain hands the whip to me,

Says “forty lashes, make’im bleed.”

Forty lashes till I’m numb,

Forty lashes till it’s done,

Forty lashes till I pray,

For no more lashes on this day.