{
 "id": "james-weldon-johnson/possum-song",
 "title": "’Possum Song",
 "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": 51,
 "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": 46,
  "n_stanzas": 4,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 48,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "’Simmons ripenin’ in de fall,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You better run,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Brudder ’Possum, run!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mockin’ bird commence to call,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You better run, Brudder ’Possum, git out de way!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You better run, Brudder ’Possum, git out de way!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Run some whar an’ hide!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ole moon am sinkin’",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Down behin’ de tree.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ole Eph am thinkin’",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ chuckelin’ wid glee.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ole Tige am blinkin’",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ frisky as kin be,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yo’ chances, Brudder ’Possum,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Look mighty slim to me.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Run, run, run, I tell you,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Run, Brudder ’Possum, run!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Run, run, run, I tell you,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ole Eph’s got a gun.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pickaninnies grinnin’",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Waitin’ fu’ to see de fun.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You better run, Brudder ’Possum, git out de way!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Run, Brudder ’Possum, run!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Brudder ’Possum take a tip;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You better run,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Brudder ’Possum, run!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tain’t no use in actin’ flip,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You better run, Brudder ’Possum, git out de way!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You better run, Brudder ’Possum, git out de way!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Run some whar an’ hide.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dey’s gwine to houn’ you",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All along de line,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "W’en dey done foun’ you,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Den what’s de use in sighin’?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wid taters roun’ you.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You sholy would tase fine⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So listen, Brudder ’Possum,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You better be a-flyin’.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Run, run, run, I tell you,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Run, Brudder ’Possum, run!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Run, run, run, I tell you,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ole Eph’s got a gun.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pickaninnies grinnin’",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Waitin’ fu’ to see de fun.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You better run, Brudder ’Possum, git out de way!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Run, Brudder ’Possum, run!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}