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.