William Stanley Braithwaite, "Del Cascar" (1922)
DEL CASCAR, Del Cascar
Stood upon a flaming star,
Stood and let his feet hang down
Till in China the toes turned brown.
And he reached his fingers over
The rim of the sea, like sails from Dover,
And caught a Mandarin at prayer,
And tickled his nose in Orion's hair.
The sun went down through crimson bars,
And left his blind face battered with stars---
But the brown toes in China kept
Hot the tears Del Cascar wept.
Published in the Book of American Negro Poetry, 1922
Published in Caroling Dusk, 1927