Classic and Contemporary Poetry
GEE-UP DAR, MULES, by EDWIN FORD PIPER First Line: He stood up in our khaki with the poise Last Line: "gwan-n, mules! Gee-up dar, mules!" Subject(s): African Americans; Heroism; Negroes; American Blacks; Heroes; Heroines | ||||||||
He stood up in our khaki with the poise Of perfect soldiership beneath the praise Of the French officer. We caught the words, "Conspicuous courage," "bringing wounded in," And "decorated with the cross of war." Black-faced? Yes, just a nigger. Nine months since He drove a span of bony cotton mules, And never had been out of Jasper County In Georgia, U. S. A. They drafted him, Shipped him to barracks, broke him into drill; It was a changeling's life. I saw the lad After his first three days in cantonment; He had just finished polishing his teeth, -- Novel achievement, and he swung the brush With beat ecstatic, chanting joyously: "Lordy, lordy, got a toothbresh, Lordy, lordy, got a toothbresh, Lordy, lordy, got a toothbresh, And I'll go to heaven on a-high!" Perhaps he sings now of the service medal, Or of some other meager badge or symbol Out of that rich and shattering experience Hurled round his simple soul. With hasty hand, Life sweeps a loaded vivifying brush Over his old dull past. And yet, I like To think he will come back to Jasper County; I picture him in patched and faded denims; Over the wagon wheel he mounts the seat, Evens the lines so the lead team won't jerk, Then all together the four nervous mules Will straighten tugs, dig in their toes, and pull. She shakes, she creaks, she rolls! "Gee-up dar, mules!" "General Foch is a fine old French, He puts us niggers in a front line trench; The barb-wire down, and the barrage begun, -- Boche sees a nigger, and the Boche he run, O p' mourner! You shall be free When the good Lord sets you free! "O, I hitched up the mules, and the mules worked fine; I hitched 'em to that Hinnenburg line, I drawed her back till I snapped her on the Rhine, An' the boss come along, and he give me my time. O po' mourner! You shall be free When the good Lord sets you free. Gwan-n, mules! Gee-up dar, mules!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON NOTES FOR AN ELEGY by WILLIAM MEREDITH THE EROTICS OF HISTORY by EAVAN BOLAND A SONG FOR HEROES by EDWIN MARKHAM AFTER THE BROKEN ARM by RON PADGETT PRELUDE; FOR GEOFFREY GORER by EDITH SITWELL EXAMINATION OF THE HERO IN A TIME OF WAR by WALLACE STEVENS |
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