Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DOLLAR SPEAKS TO THE YOUNG NEGRO (TO EDITOR I. WILLIS COLE), by JOSEPH SEAMON COTTER JR.


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DOLLAR SPEAKS TO THE YOUNG NEGRO (TO EDITOR I. WILLIS COLE), by                    
First Line: Sable brother, are you clinging
Last Line: Wedding may-time to the years.
Subject(s): African Americans; Brotherhood; Negroes; American Blacks


Sable brother, are you clinging
To the penny and the dime?
Do you know what I am bringing
To the wise of every clime?

I am foresight. I am labor.
And the soul that values me
Will have luxury for neighbor,
Will have pleasant days for fee.

You have schooling. You have muscle.
You have time to throw away.
Better start in now to hustle
Ere the night enfolds the day.

Life's a battle for the worker.
Where your heaven starts in your school.
Life's an orgie for the shirker,
And a death mask for the fool.

Let us, therefore, walk together,
In this welcome vale of tears;
Breasting every racial weather,
Wedding May-time to the years.





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