The rent man knocked.
He said, Howdy—do?
I said, What
Can I do for you?
He said, You know

Clean the spittoons, boy.
Detroit,
Chicago,
Atlantic City,
Palm Beach.

I work all day,
Said Simple John,
Myself a house to buy.
I work all day,
Said Simple John,

How still,
How strangely still
The water is today,
It is not good
For water

When the old junk man Death
Comes to gather up our bodies
And toss them into the sack of obl
I wonder if he will find
The corpse of a white multi—millio

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

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

When I was home de
Sunshine seemed like gold.
When I was home de
Sunshine seemed like gold.
Since I come up North de

I look at the world
From awakening eyes in a black fac
And this is what I see:
This fenced—off narrow space
Assigned to me.

I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the w
My soul has grown deep like the ri
I bathed in the Euphrates when da
I built my hut near the Congo and