a golden garden
When an autumn sun
Has almost set,
When near-night’s purple splendor
Shimmers to a star-shine net.
To worship
At the altar of Beauty
Is a pleasure divine,
Not given to the many many
But to fools
Who drink Beauty’s wine.
Not given to the many many
But to fools
Who seek no other goddess
Nor grapes
Plucked from another’s
Vine.
Bound No’th Blues
Goin’ down de road, Lawd,
Goin’ down de road.
Down de road, Lawd,
Way, way down de road.
Got to find somebody
To help me carry dis load.
Road’s in front o’ me,
Nothin’ to do but walk.
Road’s in front o’ me,
Walk … and walk … and walk.
I’d like to meet a good friend
To come along an’ talk.
Hates to be lonely,
Lawd, I hates to be sad.
Says I hates to be lonely,
Hates to be lonely an’ sad,
But ever friend you finds seems
Like they try to do you bad.
Road, road, road, O!
Road, road … road … road, road!
Road, road, road, O!
On de No’thern road.
These Mississippi towns ain’t
Fit fer a hoppin’ toad.
Lonesome Place
I got to leave this town.
It’s a lonesome place.
Got to leave this town cause
It’s a lonesome place.
A po’, po’ boy can’t
Find a friendly face.
Goin’ down to de river
Flowin’ deep an’ slow.
Goin’ down to de river
Deep an’ slow.—
Cause there ain’t no worries
Where de waters go.
I’m weary, weary,
Weary, as I can be.
Weary, weary,
Weary as can be.
This life’s so weary,
’S ’bout to overcome me.
Misery
Play de blues for me.
Play de blues for me.
No other music
’Ll ease ma misery.
Sing a soothin’ song.
Said a soothin’ song,
Cause de man I love’s done
Done me wrong.
Can’t you understand,
O, understand
A good woman’s cryin’
For a no-good man?
Black gal like me,
Black gal like me
’S got to hear a blues
For her misery.
Bad Luck Card
Cause you don’t love me
Is awful, awful hard.
Gypsy done showed me
Ma bad luck card.
There ain’t no good left
In this world for me.
Gypsy done tole me—
Unlucky as can be.
I don’t know what
Po’ weary me can do.
Gypsy says I’d kill ma self
If I was you.
Feet o’ Jesus
At de feet o’ Jesus,
Sorrow like a sea.
Lordy, let yo’ mercy
Come driftin’ down on me.
At de feet o’ Jesus,
At yo’ feet I stand.
O, ma little Jesus,
Please reach out yo’ hand.
Down an’ Out
If you loves me
Help me when I’m down an’ out.
If you loves me
Help me when I’m down an’ out.
Cause I’m a po’ gal that
Nobody gives a damn about.
’Stalment man’s done took ma clothes
An’ rent time’s most nigh here.
’Stalment man’s done took ma clothes,
Rent time’s most nigh here.
I’d like to buy a straightenin’ comb
An’ I needs a dime for beer.
Talk about yo’ friendly friends
Bein’ kind to you.
Talk about yo’ friendly friends
Bein’ kind to you:
Just let yo’self git down an’ out
An’ then see what they’ll do.
Fog
Singing black boatmen
An August morning
In the thick white fog at Sekondi
Coming out to take cargo
From anchored alien ships,
You do not know the fog
We strange so-civilized ones
Sail in always.
Pictures to the Wall
Shall I tell you of my old, old dreams
Lost at the earth’s strange turnings,
Some in the sea when the waves foamed high,
Some in a garret candle’s burnings?
Shall I tell you of bitter, forgotten dreams—
You who are still so young, so young?
You with your wide brown singing eyes
And laughter at the tip of your tongue.
Shall I tell you of weary, weary dreams—
You who have lost no dreams at all,
Or shall I keep quiet and let turn
My ugly pictures to the wall?
Walls
Four walls can hold
Oh, so much pain:
Four walls that shield
From the wind and rain.
Four walls can keep
Oh, so much sorrow
Garnered from yesterday
And held for tomorrow.
Beale Street Love
Love
Is a brown man’s fist
With hard knuckles
Crushing the lips,
Blackening the eyes—
Hit me again,
Says Clorinda.
Dressed Up
I had ma clothes cleaned
Just like new.
I put ’em on but
I still feels biue.
I bought a new hat,
Sho is fine,
But I wish I had back that
Old gal o’ mine.
I got new shoes—
They don’t hurt ma feet,
But I ain’t got nobody
For to call me sweet.
A House in Taos
Rain
Thunder of the Rain God:
And we three
Smitten by beauty.
Thunder of the Rain God:
And we three
Weary, weary.
Thunder of the Rain God:
And you, she, and I
Waiting for nothingness.
Do you understand the stillness
Of this house in Taos
Under the thunder of the Rain God?
Sun
That there should be a barren garden
About this house in Taos
Is not so strange,
But that there should be three barren hearts
In this one house in Taos—
Who carries ugly things to show the sun?
Moon
Did you ask for the beaten brass of the moon?
We can buy lovely things with money,
You, she and I,
Yet you seek
As though you could keep,
This unbought loveliness of moon.
Wind
Touch our bodies, wind.
Our bodies are separate individual things.
Touch our bodies, wind,
But blow quickly
Through the red, white, yellow skins
Of our bodies
To the terrible snarl,
Not mine,
Not yours,
Not hers,
But all one snarl of souls.
Blow quickly, wind,
Before we run back into the windlessness—
With our bodies—
Into the windlessness
Of our house in Taos.
Suicide
Ma sweet good man has
Packed his trunk and left.
Ma sweet good man has
Packed his trunk and left.
Nobody to love me:
I’m gonna kill ma self.
I’m gonna buy me a knife with
A blade ten inches long.
Gonna buy a knife with
A blade ten inches long.
Shall I carve ma self or
That man that done me wrong?
’Lieve I’ll jump in de river
Eighty-nine feet deep.
’Lieve I’ll jump in de river
Eighty-nine feet deep.
Cause de river’s quiet
An’ a po’, po’ gal can sleep.
Hard Luck
When hard luck overtakes you
Nothin’ for you to do.
When hard luck overtakes you
Nothin’ for you to do.
Gather up yo’ fine clothes
An’ sell ’em to de Jew.
Jew takes yo’ fine clothes,
Gives you a dollar an’ a half.
Jew takes yo’ fine clothes,
Gives you a dollar an’ a half.
Go to de bootleg’s,
Git some gin to make you laugh.
If I was a mule I’d
Git me a wagon to haul.
If I was a mule I’d
Git a wagon to haul.
I’m so low-down I
Ain’t even got a stall.
