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TO THE WHITE FIENDS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Think you I am not fiend and savage too?
Last Line: To show thy little lamp: go forth, go forth!
Alternate Author Name(s): Edwards, Eli
Subject(s): African Americans; Racism; Negroes; American Blacks; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry


Think you I am not fiend and savage too?
Think you I could not arm me with a gun
And shoot down ten of you for every one
Of my black brothers murdered, burnt by you?
Be not deceived, for every deed you do
I could match - out-match: am I not Afric's son,
Black of that black land where black deeds are done?
But the Almighty from the darkness drew
My soul and said: Even thou shalt be a light
Awhile to burn on the benighted earth,
Thy dusky face I set among the white
For thee to prove thyself of higher worth;
Before the world is swallowed up in night,
To show thy little lamp: go forth, go forth!




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