{
 "id": "james-weldon-johnson/go-down-death",
 "title": "Go Down Death",
 "poet": "James Weldon Johnson",
 "poet_slug": "james-weldon-johnson",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse",
 "book_slug": "gods-trombones",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1927,
  "venue": "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (1927)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/godstrombonessev00johnso"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/james-weldon-johnson_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_the_National_Association_for_the_Adv/AAs-AQAAMAAJ",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17884",
   "https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsother00johnrich",
   "https://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/johnson/johnson.html",
   "https://archive.org/details/godstrombonessev00johnso"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 79,
  "n_stanzas": 10,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 68,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Weep not, weep not,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She is not dead;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She’s resting in the bosom of Jesus.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Heart-broken husband⁠—weep no more;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Grief-stricken son⁠—weep no more;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Left-lonesome daughter⁠—weep no more;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She’s only just gone home.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Day before yesterday morning,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God was looking down from his great, high heaven",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Looking down on all his children,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And his eye fell on Sister Caroline,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tossing on her bed of pain.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And God’s big heart was touched with pity,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With the everlasting pity.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And God sat back on his throne,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he commanded that tall, bright angel standing at his right hand:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Call me Death!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And that tall, bright angel cried in a voice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That broke like a clap of thunder:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Call Death!⁠—Call Death!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the echo sounded down the streets of heaven",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till it reached away back to that shadowy place,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where Death waits with his pale, white horses.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And Death heard the summons,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he leaped on his fastest horse,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pale as a sheet in the moonlight.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Up the golden street Death galloped,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the hoofs of his horse struck fire from the gold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But they didn’t make no sound.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Up Death rode to the Great White Throne,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And waited for God’s command.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And God said: Go down, Death, go down,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Go down to Savannah, Georgia,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Down in Yamacraw,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And find Sister Caroline.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She’s borne the burden and heat of the day,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She’s labored long in my vineyard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And she’s tired⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She’s weary⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Go down, Death, and bring her to me.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And Death didn’t say a word,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But he loosed the reins on his pale, white horse,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he clamped the spurs to his bloodless sides,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And out and down he rode,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through heaven’s pearly gates,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Past suns and moons and stars;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On Death rode,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the foam from his horse was like a comet in the sky;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On Death rode,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Leaving the lightning’s flash behind;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Straight on down he came.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "While we were watching round her bed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She turned her eyes and looked away,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She saw what we couldn’t see;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She saw Old Death. She saw Old Death",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Coming like a falling star.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But Death didn’t frighten Sister Caroline;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He looked to her like a welcome friend.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And she whispered to us: I’m going home,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And she smiled and closed her eyes.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And Death took her up like a baby,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And she lay in his icy arms,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But she didn’t feel no chill.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Death began to ride again⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Up beyond the evening star,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Out beyond the morning star,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the glittering light of glory,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On to the Great White Throne.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And there he laid Sister Caroline",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On the loving breast of Jesus.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And Jesus took his own hand and wiped away her tears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he smoothed the furrows from her face,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the angels sang a little song,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Jesus rocked her in his arms,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And kept a-saying: Take your rest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Take your rest, take your rest.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Weep not⁠—weep not,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She is not dead;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She’s resting in the bosom of Jesus.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}