Ethel Caution-Davis (Ethel M. Caution), "A Man" (1916)
Man was I born, tho garbed tho garbed in hue of night,
Disorderly of feature, crowned with stubborn hair.
Part, yea, and parcel of the God am I:
His Mind, His Spirit, His great Soul all live in me.
Omnipotence, omniscience, these alone bounds my life shall know,
To grow toward God each day in mind and soul
Till I shall come into mine own inheritance;
For God in black and white is just the same.
Then, shall my fellow man set me no bounds.
Man was I born, so shall I die---A Man.
Published in The Crisis. April 1916