Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BLACK CHRISTMAS, by DUBOSE HEYWARD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BLACK CHRISTMAS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is cruel for a woman with her man gone
Last Line: "an' the younguns allas hungry, an' winter comin' on."
Subject(s): African Americans; Christmas; Negroes; American Blacks; Nativity, The


"It is cruel for a woman with her man gone,
An' the younguns allas hungry, an' winter comin' on.

I thought the feud was ended last Christmas day,
When Darrell sent the preacher to the Galloways to say
Tha he could come and get him, if they had a mind.
He was done with rifle-totin' for his fellow-kind.
An' a year gone by, with everything that still;
An' never once a Galloway on our side the hill.

Oh, I was glad this mornin' when Dal hollered up to me
To send the younguns runnin' to help him fetch a tree.
'There's a fine young balsam by the wood-house shed,
An' we'll have it in for Christmas, like we used to do,' he said.

I watched him drop the salpin' with a single stroke;
An' the snow all whirlin' round him like a shinin' smoke,
While the younguns tumbled, and laughed, and sang:
Then someone shouted sudden -- an' a rifle rang.

Now the folks are gatherin' to bring him from the shed;
An' I got to stop denyin' that my man is dead.
Oh it's cruel for a woman with her man gone,
An' the younguns allas hungry, an' winter comin' on."





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