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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BLACK MEN SINGING, by ELMO RUSS First Line: I have known nights made wonderful with song Last Line: Is lost forever, song born out of fright! Subject(s): African Americans - Song And Music; Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers | |||
I have known nights made wonderful with song That black men sang while watching water rise -- To shuffled boots and banjos and the cries Of frightened women, from the huddled throng I heard the black men singing clear and strong. Each watcher waited tensely, knew surprise Might leap from angered waters. Each one's eyes Held by water as I was held by song. In looking back, those nights are like a story. The levee's higher now, the black men gone -- Little is left to watch or listen on -- Still, there's the southern moon and water's glory -- But song of black men singing in the night Is lost forever, song born out of fright! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AFTER WORKING SIXTY HOURS AGAIN FOR WHAT REASON by HICOK. BOB DAY JOB AND NIGHT JOB by ANDREW HUDGINS BIXBY'S LANDING by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON BUILDING WITH STONE by ROBINSON JEFFERS LINES FROM A PLUTOCRATIC POETASTER TO A DITCH-DIGGER by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS IN CALIFORNIA: MORNING, EVENING, LATE JANUARY by DENISE LEVERTOV |
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