Caroling Dusk (1927)
edited by Countee Cullen
The Black Madonna by Albert Rice
Albert Rice4757522Caroling Dusk — The Black Madonna1927Countee Cullen

THE BLACK MADONNA

Not as the white nationsknow thee  O Mother!
But swarthy of cheekand full-lipped as the  child races are.
Yet thou art she,the Immaculate Maid,  and none other,
Crowned in the stableat Bethlehem,  hailed of the star.
See where they come,thy people,  so humbly appealing,
From the ancient landswhere the olden faiths  had birth.
Tired dusky handsuplifted for thy  healing.
Pity them, Mother,the untaught  of earth.