The Ordeal + 

Ho: my brother, + 

Pass me not by so scornfully + 

I’m doing this living of being black, + 

Perhaps I bear your own life-pack, + 

And heavy, heavy is the load + 

That bends my body to the road. + 

But I have kept a smile for fate, + 

I neither cry, nor cringe, nor hate, + 

Intrepidly, I strive to bear + 

This handicap: The planets wear + 

The Maker’s imprint, and with mine + 

I swing into their rhythmic line; + 

I ask⁠—only for destiny, + 

Mine, not thine. + 