James Weldon Johnson

(On an Incident at the Battle of San Juan Hill)Under a burning tropic sun,
With comrades around him lying,
A trooper of the sable
Lay wounded, bleeding, dying.

The hand of Fate cannot be stayed,
The course of Fate cannot be steered,
By all the gods that man has made,
Nor all the devils he has feared

MOTHER, shed no mournful tears,
But gird me on my sword;
And give no utterance to thy fears,
But bless me with thy word.The lines are drawn! The fight is on!…

I'm back down in ole Georgy w'ere de sun is shinin' hot,
W'ere de cawn it is a-tasslin', gittin' ready fu' de pot;
W'ere de cott'n is a-openin' an' a-w'itenin' in de sun,
An' de ripenin' o' de sugah-cane is mighty nigh begun.

'Twas at early morning,
The dawn was blushing in her purple bed,
When in a sweet, embowered garden
She, the fairest of the goddesses,…

Skin as black an' jes as sof' as a velvet dress,
Teeth as white as ivory —well dey is I guess.
Eyes dat's jes as big an' bright as de evenin' star;
An' dat hol' some sort o' light lublier by far.

Of tropic sensations, the worst
Is, sin duda, the tropical thirst.When it starts in your throat and constantly grows,
Till you feel that it reaches down to your toes,
When your mouth tastes like fur…

I dreamed that I was a
That grew beside a lonely way,
Close by a path none ever chose,
And there I lingered day by day.

This is the land of the dark-eyed gente,
Of the dolce far niente,
Where we dream away
Both the night and day,…

O black and unknown bards of long ago,
How came your lips to touch the sacred fire?
How, in your darkness, did you come to
The power and beauty of the minstrel's lyre?

Twenty years go by on noiseless feet,
He returns, and once again they meet,
She exclaims, "Good heavens! and is that he?"
He mutters, "My God! and that is she!"

Look heah! 'Splain to me de
Why you said to Squire Lee,
Der wuz twelve ole chicken
In dis heah town, includin' me.

(A Warning)'Simmons ripenin' in de fall,
You better run,
Brudder 'Possum, run!
Mockin' bird commence to call

"She's built of
From deck to keel,
And bolted strong and tight;
In scorn she'll

(Lullaby)Shet yo' eyes, ma little pickaninny, go to sleep
Mammy's watchin' by you all de w'ile;
Daddy is a-wukin' down in de cott'n fiel',
Wukin' fu' his little honey child.…

Seems lak to me de stars don't shine so bright,
Seems lak to me de sun done loss his light,
Seems lak to me der's nothin' goin' right,
Sence you went away.

O brothers mine, to-day we
Where half a century sweeps our ken,
Since God, through Lincoln's ready hand,
Struck off our bonds and made us men.

Out of the infinite sea of
To climb, and for an instant
Upon an island speck of time.
From the impassible peace of the

O Southland!
O Southland!
Have you not heard the call,
The trumpet blown, the word made

Enough of love!
Let break its every hold!
Ended my youthful folly! for I know
That, like the dazzling, glister-shedding snow

Old Omar, jolly sceptic, it may be
That, after all, you found the magic key
To life and all its mystery, and I
Must own you have almost persuaded me.

Eternities before the first-born day,
Or ere the first sun fledged his wings of flame,
Calm Night, the everlasting and the same,
A brooding mother over chaos lay.

When morning shows her first faint flush,
I think of the tender blush
That crept so gently to your cheek
When first my love I dared to speak;…

Around the council-board of Hell, with Satan at their head,
The Three Great Scourges of humanity sat.
Gaunt Famine, with hollow cheek and voice, arose and spoke,—"O,
Prince