African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology

Silas X. Floyd, "Our President" (1907)

Our President, Our President,
A mighty man is He!
His like on all the thrones of earth
We could not hope to see.

Our nation is, our nation is 
A little babe to Him;
He pets us soft or spanks us hard,
According to His whim.

With vision rare, with vision rare
He sweeps the future wide,
And then sits down and writes a note
About "Race Suicide."

When Parker's charge, when Parker's charge
Created quite a stir,
With chattering teeth our Ruler wrote:
"You're a base liar, Sir."

When Bowen said, when Bowen said
That Loomis had turned a trick,
Our Ruler sent a line to say:
"Step down and out right quick."

Some Boston men, some Boston men
Were given an interview,
And when they said what He had said,
He wrote: "That isn't true."

B. Storer's wife, B. Storers ' wife
One day to the Vatican went,
And then this note: "Come back! Come back!"
Our Ruler to B. S. sent.

He sent some men, He sent some men
To dig the Isthmian door;
And then He went to see Himself,
And then-He wrote some more.

"Our spelling's bad, our spelling's bad,"
Said Andrew C. one day,
And then for "Spelling Simplified,"
He wrote without delay.

The Negro troops, the Negro troops
Got on a tare one night,
And then he stayed up all night long
Ten thousand words to write!

Oh, yes, Oh, yes! Oh, yes, Oh, yes!
He's a mighty man, I know
And when he takes His pen in hand
Somebody's got to go!

Published in The Voice of the Negro, March 1907
 

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