I loved him
But I’ll have mo’ sense next time.
Love, Oh, love is
Such a strange disease.
Love, Oh, love is
Such a strange disease.
When it hurts yo’ heart you
Sho can’t find no ease.
Ma Man
When ma man looks at me
He knocks me off ma feet.
When ma man looks at me
He knocks me off ma feet.
He’s got those ’lectric-shockin’ eyes an’
De way he shocks me sho is sweet.
He kin play a banjo.
Lordy, he kin plunk, plunk, plunk.
He kin play a banjo.
I mean plunk, plunk … plunk, plunk.
He plays good when he’s sober
An’ better, better, better when he’s drunk.
Eagle-rockin’,
Daddy, eagle-rock with me.
Eagle rockin’,
Come an’ eagle-rock with me.
Honey baby,
Eagle-rockish as I kin be!
Love Song for Lucinda
Love
Is a ripe plum
Growing on a purple tree.
Taste it once
And the spell of its enchantment
Will never let you be.
Love
Is a bright star
Glowing in far Southern skies.
Look too hard
And its burning flame
Will always hurt your eyes.
Love
Is a high mountain
Stark in a windy sky.
If you
Would never lose your breath
Do not climb too high.
Teacher
Ideals are like the stars,
Always above our reach.
Humbly I tried to learn,
More humbly did I teach.
On all honest virtues
I sought to keep firm hold.
I wanted to be a good man
Though I pinched my soul.
But now I lie beneath cool loam
Forgetting every dream;
And in this narrow bed of earth
No lights gleam.
In this narrow bed of earth
Star-dust never scatters,
And I tremble lest the darkness teach
Me that nothing matters.
Minnie Sings Her Blues
Cabaret, cabaret!
That’s where ma man an’ me go.
Cabaret, cabaret!
That’s where we go—
Leaves de snow outside
An’ our troubles at de door.
Jazz band, jazz band!
Ma man an’ me dance.
When I cuddles up to him
No other gal’s got a chance.
Baby, O, Baby,
I’m midnight mad.
If ma daddy didn’t love me
It sho would be sad.
If he didn’t love me
I’d go away
An’ dig me a grave this very day.
Blues … blues!
Blue, blue, blues!
I’d sho have them blues.
Listen Here Blues
Sweet girls, sweet girls,
Listen here to me.
All you sweet girls,
Listen here to me:
Gin an’ whiskey
Kin make you lose yo’ ’ginity.
I used to be a good chile,
Lawd, in Sunday School.
Used to be a good chile—
Always in Sunday School,
Till these licker-headed rounders
Made me everbody’s fool.
Good girls, good girls,
Listen here to me.
Oh, you good girls,
Better listen to me:
Don’t you fool wid no men cause
They’ll bring you misery.
Fortune Teller Blues
I went to de gypsy,
De gypsy took hold o’ my hand.
Went to de gypsy,
Gypsy took hold o’ my hand.
She looked at me and tole me
Chile, you gonna lose yo’ man.
These fortune tellers
Never tell me nothin’ kind.
I say fortune tellers
Never tell me nothin’ kind.
I’d give a hundred dollars
To de one that would ease my mind.
Cause I’ll holler an’ scream an’
Fall down on de flo’.
Say I’ll holler an’ scream an’
Fall down on de flo’.
If my man leaves me
I won’t live no mo’.
Judgment Day
They put ma body in de ground,
Ma soul went flyin’ o’ de town.
Lord Jesus!
Went flyin’ to de stars an’ moon
A shoutin’ God, I’s comin’ soon.
O Jesus!
Lord in heaben,
Crown on His head,
Says don’t be ’fraid
Cause you ain’t dead.
Kind Jesus!
An’ now I’m settin’ clean an’ bright
In de sweet o’ ma Lord’s sight—
Clean an’ bright,
Clean an’ bright.
Wide River
Ma baby lives across de river
An’ I ain’t got no boat.
She lives across de river,
I ain’t got no boat.
I ain’t a good swimmer
An’ I don’t know how to float.
Wide, wide river
’Tween ma love an’ me.
Wide, wide river
’Tween ma love an’ me.
I never knowed how
Wide a river can be.
Got to cross that river
An’ git to ma baby somehow.
Cross that river,
Git to ma baby somehow,
Cause if I don’t see ma baby
I’ll lay down an’ die right now.
Homesick Blues
De railroad bridge’s
A sad song in de air.
De railroad bridge’s
A sad song in de air.
Ever time de trains pass
I wants to go somewhere.
I went down to de station.
Ma heart was in ma mouth.
Went down to de station.
Heart was in ma mouth.
Lookin’ for a box car
To roll me to de South.
Homesick blues, Lawd,
’S a terrible thing to have.
Homesick blues is
A terrible thing to have.
To keep from cryin’
I opens ma mouth an’ laughs.
Ruby Brown
She was young and beautiful
And golden like the sunshine
That warmed her body.
And because she was colored
Mayville had no place to offer her,
Nor fuel for the clean flame of joy
That tried to burn within her soul.
One day,
Sitting on old Mrs. Latham’s back porch
Polishing the silver,
She asked herself two questions
And they ran something like this:
What can a colored girl do
On the money from a white woman’s kitchen?
And ain’t there any joy in this town?
Now the streets down by the river
Know more about this pretty Ruby Brown,
And the sinister shuttered houses of the bottoms
Hold a yellow girl
Seeking an answer to her questions.
The good church folk do not mention
Her name any more.
But the white men,
Habitués of the high shuttered houses,
Pay more money to her now
Than they ever did before,
When she worked in their kitchens.
Formula
Poetry should treat
Of lofty things
Soaring thoughts
And birds with wings.
The Muse of Poetry
Should not know
That roses
In manure grow.
The Muse of Poetry
Should not care
That earthly pain
Is everywhere.
Poetry!
Treats of lofty things:
Soaring thoughts
And birds with wings.
Autumn Note
The little flowers of yesterday
Have all forgotten May.
The last gold leaf
Has turned to brown.
The last bright day is grey.
The cold of winter comes apace
And you have gone away.
For Dead Mimes
Oh, white-faced mimes,
May rose leaves
Cover you like snow.
And may Pierrette,
The faithful,
Rest forever with Pierrot.
New Year
The years
Fall like dry leaves
From the top-less tree
Of eternity.
Does it matter
That another leaf has fallen?
Epitaph
Within this grave I lie,
Yes, I.
Why laugh, good people,
Or why cry?
Within this grave
Lies nothing more
Than I.
To Beauty
To worship
At the altar of Beauty,
To feel her loveliness and pain,
To thrill
At the wonder of her gorgeous moon
Or the sharp, swift, silver swords
Of falling rain.
To walk in
