Langston Hughes, "Mulatto" (1927)
I am your son, 'white man!
Georgia dusk
And the turpentine woods.
One of the pillars of the temple fell.
You are my son!
libe hell:
The moon over the turpentine woods.
The Southern night
Full of stars,
Great big yellow stars.
Juicy bodies
Of nigger wenches
Blue black
Against black fences.
O, you little bastard boy,
What's a body but a toy?
The scent of pine wood stings the soft night air,
What's the body of your mother?
Silver moonlight everywhere.
What's the body of your mother?
Sharp pirc scent in the evening air.
A n------ night,
A n------ joy,
A little yellow
Bastard boy.
Naw, you ain't my brother, .
N-----s ain't my brother.
Not ever.
N------ ain't
my
brother.
The Southern night is full of stars,
Great big yellow stars.
O, sweet as earth,
Dusk dark bodies
Give sweet birth
To little yellow bastard boys.
Git on back there in the night,
You ain't white.
The bright stars scatter everywhere.
Pine wood scent in the evening air.
A n----- night,
A n----- joy.
I am your son, while man!
A little yellow
Bastard boy.
Published in Fine Clothes to the Jew, 1927