{
 "id": "james-weldon-johnson/ma-ladys-lips-am-like-de-honey",
 "title": "Ma Lady’s Lips Am Like de Honey",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "James Weldon Johnson",
 "poet_slug": "james-weldon-johnson",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Fifty Years & Other Poems",
 "book_slug": "fifty-years-and-other-poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 42,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1917,
  "venue": "Fifty Years & Other Poems (1917)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsother00johnrich",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17884"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/james-weldon-johnson_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_the_National_Association_for_the_Adv/AAs-AQAAMAAJ",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17884",
   "https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsother00johnrich",
   "https://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/johnson/johnson.html",
   "https://archive.org/details/godstrombonessev00johnso"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-14"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 40,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 40,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Breeze a-sighin’ and a-blowin’,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Southern summer night.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stars a-gleamin’ and a-glowin’,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Moon jes shinin’ right.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strollin’, like all lovers do,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Down de lane wid Lindy Lou;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Honey on her lips to waste;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Speck I’m gwine to steal a taste.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Oh, ma lady’s lips am like de honey,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Ma lady’s lips am like de rose;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ I’m jes like de little bee a-buzzin’",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Round de flower wha’ de nectah grows.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Ma lady’s lips dey smile so temptin’,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Ma lady’s teeth so white dey shine,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Oh, ma lady’s lips so tantalizin’,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Ma lady’s lips so close to mine.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Bird a-whistlin’ and a-swayin’",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In de live-oak tree;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Seems to me he keeps a-sayin’,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Kiss dat gal fo’ me.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Look heah, Mister Mockin’ Bird,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Gwine to take you at yo’ word;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If I meets ma Waterloo,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Gwine to blame it all on you.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Oh, ma lady’s lips am like de honey,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Ma lady’s lips am like de rose;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ I’m jes like de little bee a-buzzin’",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Round de flower wha’ de nectah grows.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Ma lady’s lips dey smile so temptin’,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Ma lady’s teeth so white dey shine,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Oh, ma lady’s lips so tantalizin’,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Ma lady’s lips so close to mine.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Honey in de rose, I spose, is",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Put der fo’ de bee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Honey on her lips, I knows, is",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Put der jes fo’ me.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Seen a sparkle in her eye,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Heard her heave a little sigh;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Felt her kinder squeeze ma han’,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Nuff to make me understan’.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}