Langston Hughes, "Boy" (1928)
And somewhat like Puck
And somewhat like a gutter boy
Who loves to play in muck.
He had something of Bacchus
And something of Pan
And a way with women
Like a sailor man.
He was straight and slender
And solid with strength
And lovely as a young tree
All his virile length.
He couldn't have been a good man,
All shut up in a cell,
'Cause he'd "rather be a sinner,"
He said,—"and go to hell."
Published in Carolina Magazine, May 1928