Aaron Belford Thompson, "Our Girls" (1899)
A song to the damsels, our Ethiope maids!
Her crisp curly locks, in beauty arrayed.
Her voice is so gentle, so tender so true;
Her smiles glow like sun-beams;
Her eyes spark like dew.
Her teeth shine like pearls, her laughter the while,
Re-echoes with music, like waves on the Nile;
Her steps are so gentle, kindhearted is she;
The Ethiope maid, is the damsel for me.
No paints and no powder, bedecks her sweet face
Her beauty is nature, the rarest of grace.
The oils and pomatums, ne'er touches her hair;
Those curled raven locks, by nature are there.
Before ev'ry nation, exultant we'll sing;
Arrayed in her beauty, our maids we will bring.
Published in Morning Songs, 1899