Edward S. Silvera, "Fantasy in Black" (1928)
By Edward S. Silvera
GATHER the stars together
In one corner of the sky,
Let swift hammers beat the golden loveliness
Of the moon
Into a thousand fragments of nothingness.
Let unseen hands strip the firmament
Of its gray cloud garments
And lay bare before all
The ebon splendor of a black woman’s breast;.
Oh, the bosom of night is beautiful
And dark like the breasts of a mammy!
Beautiful and dark and soft
Like the breasts of Ethiopia.
Published in Opportunity, August 1928