Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, UNCLE PETER, by LEILA STEPHENS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

UNCLE PETER, by                    
First Line: He was just an old darkey
Last Line: "so mah eyes kin see you!"
Subject(s): African Americans; Negroes; American Blacks


He was just an old darkey
Stoop-shouldered and gray,
Master's black jockey
In Civil War's day.
Uncle Peter they called him;
And though black as tar
No voice sounded sweeter
When he answered "Sar".

With a heart like a diamond,
Bright-shining within,
But little it mattered
What color his skin.
For the first two Commandments
His heart set aright;
He was often found singing
God's praise in the night.

To be sure, superstitions
Of witches and things
Left marks on old Peter --
Deaths, comets and Kings
In his mind linked together
With Bethlehem's plains;
And the moon was regarded
When sowing his grains.

Uncle Peter was ready
For Gabriel's call,
"Yes, Lord," he cried, steady,
"I'se jinin' Y'all;
Down yere 'taint nothin'
Peter Blount kin do --
Lordy, open the cleft
So mah eyes kin see You!"





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