Copper Sun (Cullen)/Colored Blues Singer

Copper Sun
by Countee Cullen
Colored Blues Singer
4119715Copper Sun — Colored Blues SingerCountee Cullen

Colored Blues Singer

Some weep to find the Golden PearFeeds maggots at the core,And some grow cold as ice, and bearThem prouder than before.
But you go singing like the seaWhose lover turns to land;You make your grief a melodyAnd take it by the hand.
Such songs the mellow-bosomed maidsOf Africa intoneFor lovers dead in hidden glades,Slow rotting flesh and bone.
Such keenings tremble from the kraal,Where sullen-browed abidesThe second wife whose dark tears failTo draw him to her sides.
Somewhere Jeritza breaks her heartOn symbols Verdi wrote;You tear the strings of your soul apart,Blood dripping note by note.