Georgia Douglas Johnson, "Crucifixion" (1925)
Pass me not by so scornfully,
I'm doing this lviing of being black,
Perhaps I bear your own life-pack;
And heavy, heavy is the load
That bends my body to the road.
But, I have kept a smile for Fate,
I neither cry, nor cringe, nor hate;
Intrepidly I strive to bear
This handicap: the planets wear
The Maker's imprint, and with mine
I swing into this rhythmic line,
In this guise was I made a man--
The world to conquer-- and I can.
So I go forward fearlessly
To LIFE through DEATH,
On Calvary!
Published in The Messenger, October 1925