CONTENTS PAGE . Fiftyyears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 - To America . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4 Black and Unknown Bards . . . . . . . . . 5 0 Southland . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Fragment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 To Horace Bumstead . . . . . . . . 10 The Color Sergeant . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Black Mammy . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Father. Father Abraharn . . . . . . . . . . 13 - Brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The White Witch . . . . . . . . . 17 Mother Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 The Young Warrior . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face . . . . 2 1 From the Spanish of Placido . . . . . . . . . 22 From the Spanish . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 From the German of Uhland . . . . . . . . 23 Before a Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 T Hear the Stars Still Singing . . . . . . . . 24 Girl of Fifteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The Suicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Down by the Carib Sea . . . . . . . . . . 27 Sunrise in the Tropics . . . . . . . . . 27 Los Cigarrillos . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Teestay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 The Lottery Girl . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Dancing Girl . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Sunset in the Tropics . . . . . . . . . . 33 t n d the Greatest of These is War . . . . . . . 34 Mid-Day Dreamer . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The Temptress . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 G hosts of the Old Year . . . . 39 ix CONTENTS b e Ghost of Deacon Brown . . Omar . . . . . . . . . . . Lazy1 . . . . . . . . . . Deep in the Quiet Wood . . . . The Word of an Engineer . . . Sleep . . . . . . . . . . . - Life . . . . . . . . . . . Voluptao . . . . . . . . . Prayer at Sunrise . . . . . . The Gift to Sing . . . . . . . Morning, Noon and Night . . . Her EyesTwin Pools . . . . . TheAwakening . . . . . . . Beauty that is Never Old . . . Venus in a Garden . . . . . . Vashti . . . . . . . . . . The Reward . . . PAGE . 40 . 41 . 42 . 43 . 44 . 45 . 47 . 48 . 46 . 47 . 48 . 49 . 50 . 49 v 51 JINGLES and CROONS Sence You Went Away . . . . . . . . . . . 5 9 Ma Ladys Lips Am Like de Honey . . . . . . 6 0 Tunk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Nobodys Lookin but de Owl an de Moon . . 64 Yous Sweet to Yo Mamrny jes de Same . . . . 65 A Plantation Bacchanal . . . . . . . . . . 66 July in Georgy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 A Banjo Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 - F Answer to Prayer . . . . . . . 70 Dat Gal o Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 The Seasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3 - Possum Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Brer Rabbit. Yous de Cutes of Em All . . . . 7 6 An Explanation . . . . . . . 77 De Little Pickaninnys Gone to SIeep . . . . . 78 The Rivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 9 INTRODUCTION Of the hundred millions who make up the population of the United States ten millions come from a stock ethnicaIly alien to the other ninety millions. They are not descended from ancestors who came here voluntarily, in the spirit of adventure to better themselves or in the spirit of devotion to make sure of freedom to worship God in their own way. They are the grandchildren of men and women brought here against their wills to serve as slaves...