Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PORE FOLKS' HANT, by ESTHER EUGENIA DAVIS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PORE FOLKS' HANT, by                    
First Line: I hear wagon-wheels and hoofs, and they're coming up the road
Last Line: "but we ain't afraid of ghosts, aire we, dessie?"
Subject(s): Poverty


"I hear wagon-wheels and hoofs, and they're coming up the road;
Look and tell me what it is, Aunt Essie."
"Hit's the pore-farm buggy, child, an' hit's carryin' a load;
They're a going to the pore-house, Dessie."

"O, tell me who it is! I can hear a baby cry --
No, it's two babies crying now, Aunt Essie."
"Hit's Alethie and her twins; I could see as they went by;
She's a-trying to hush 'em, little Dessie."

"Did the mother spank the twins? Are they tired? Are they cold?
Else why should they be crying, dear Aunt Essie?"
"Run along and find your doll. Time to worry when you're old ...
Hush, I'll tell ye. They're a-starvin'! Starvin' Dessie!"

"No matter what I do, still I hear those babies cry.
I can't play any more, Aunt Essie."
"O, the pore-house is a ghost hanting pore folks till they die ...
But we ain't afraid of ghosts, aire we, Dessie?"





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