J. Harvey L. Baxter, "Paint Me A God" (1927)
By J. Harvey L. Baxter
Paint me a God, as black as I am black,
As black as night, as black as ebony,
Whose comely hue and flowing locks shall be,
But as the down on an albino’s back.
Paint me a God, Oh, artist, do not slack,
Paint Him divine and for eternity;
Clothe Him with might, and love, and majesty,
Make Him the King of all this motley pack.
A God that I can muse of day and night,
And in my dreamings see a swarthy face,
A God to keep my racial armor bright,
On land or sea, in high or lowly place,
Endow Him not with gifts of Nordic light;
Paint me a God, in likeness of my race.
Published in Opportunity, March 1927