#Americans #Blacks
When Susanna Jones wears red her face is like an ancient cameo Turned brown by the ages. Come with a blast of trumphets, J… When Susanna Jones wears red
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 census man, The day he came round, Wanted my name To put it down. I said, Johnson,
Let’s go see Old Abe Sitting in the marble and the moon… Sitting lonely in the marble and t… Quiet for ten thousand centuries,… Quiet for a million, million years…
It would be nice In any case, To someday meet you Face to face Walking down
When a man starts out with nothing… When a man starts out with his han… Empty, but clean, When a man starts to build a world… He starts first with himself
Gather quickly Out of darkness All the songs you know And throw them at the sun Before they melt
I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the w… flow of human blood in human veins My soul has grown deep like the ri… I bathed in the Euphrates when da…
God in His infinite wisdom Did not make me very wise— So when my actions are stupid They hardly take God by surprise
I play it cool I dig all jive. That's the reason I stay alive. My motto
When the shoe strings break On both your shoes And you’re in a hurry— That’s the blues. When you go to buy a candy bar
That Justice is a blind goddess Is a thing to which we black are w… Her bandage hides two festering so… That once perhaps were eyes.
I sat there singing her Songs in the dark. She said; 'I do not understand The words’.
I went down to the river, I set down on the bank. I tried to think but couldn’t, So I jumped in and sank. I came up once and hollered!
It was a long time ago. I have almost forgotten my dream. But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun—
