Lorraine Chambers, "If She Were Not Dark" (1927)
Lorraine Chambers
I love the black and rippling hair
Of little Nina Clark,
I love her beauty, fresh and rare,
But oh! her skin is dark.
II.
I love the eyes, the lips, the teeth
Of little Nina Clark,
I love the virtue underneath
That skin which is so dark.
III.
I might have married her some day,
This lovely Nina Clark,
But this one thing stands in the way—
Her skin, which God made dark.
Published in Black Opals, Spring 1927