I woke up this mornin’
’Bout half-past three.
All the womens in town
Was gathered round me.
Sweet gals was a-moanin’,

By what sends
the white kids
I ain’t sent:
I know I can’t
be President.

The census man,
The day he came round,
Wanted my name
To put it down.
I said, Johnson,

Big Boy came
Carrying a mermaid
On his shoulders
And the mermaid
Had her tail

Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.
I have as much right

The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.
The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.
Beautiful, also, is the sun.

I’m all alone in this world, she s
Ain’t got nobody to share my bed,
Ain’t got nobody to hold my hand—
The truth of the matter’s
I ain’t got no man.

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other ni
By the pale dull pallor of an old

The ivory gods,
And the ebony gods,
And the gods of diamond and jade,
Sit silently on their temple shelv
While the people

My old man’s a white old man
And my old mother’s black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mot