Langston Hughes, "Fire" (1927)
Fire,
Fire, Lord!
Fire gonna burn ma soul!
I ain't been good,
I ain't been clean, –
I been stinkin', low-down, mean.
Fire,
Fire, Lord!
Fire gonna burn ma soul!
Tell me, brother,
Do you believe
If you wanta go to heaben
Got to moan an' ġrieve?
Fire,
Fire, Lord!
Fire gonna burn ma soul!
I been stealin',
Been tellin' lies,
Had more women
Than Pharaoh had wives.
Fire,
Fire, Lord!
Fire gonna burn ma soul!
I means Fire, Lord!
Fire gonna burn ma soul!
Published in Fine Clothes to the Jew, 1927