Jonathan H. Brooks, "A Student I Know" (1927)
To whom his mother prays;
“What stands on faith for proof is built
On shifting sands,” he says.
To him life ts a heartless game:
“I grapple, fight, defy,”
He says: “the world is his who wins;
The losers, let them dte.”
Ah, greenhorn-pilgrim, duped by thieves
And left to writhe in dirt
Beside the way to Jericho—
Wounded, robbed—and hurt!
Published in Ebony and Topaz, 1927