{
 "id": "james-weldon-johnson/the-prodigal-son",
 "title": "The Prodigal Son",
 "poet": "James Weldon Johnson",
 "poet_slug": "james-weldon-johnson",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse",
 "book_slug": "gods-trombones",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 2,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1927,
  "venue": "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (1927)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/godstrombonessev00johnso"
  ]
 },
 "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": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 122,
  "n_stanzas": 14,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 55,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Young man⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Young man⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Your arm’s too short to box with God.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But Jesus spake in a parable, and he said:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A certain man had two sons.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesus didn’t give this man a name,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But his name is God Almighty.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Jesus didn’t call these sons by name,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But ev’ry young man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ev’rywhere,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is one of these two sons.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And the younger son said to his father,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He said: Father, divide up the property,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And give me my portion now.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the father with tears in his eyes said: Son,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Don’t leave your father’s house.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But the boy was stubborn in his head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And haughty in his heart,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he took his share of his father’s goods,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And went into a far-off country.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There comes a time,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There comes a time",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When ev’ry young man looks out from his father’s house,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Longing for that far-off country.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And the young man journeyed on his way,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he said to himself as he travelled along:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This sure is an easy road,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nothing like the rough furrows behind my father’s plow.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Young man⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Young man⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Smooth and easy is the road",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That leads to hell and destruction.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Down grade all the way,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The further you travel, the faster you go.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No need to trudge and sweat and toil,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Just slip and slide and slip and slide",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till you bang up against hell’s iron gate.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And the younger son kept travelling along,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till at night-time he came to a city.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the city was bright in the night-time like day,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The streets all crowded with people,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Brass bands and string bands a-playing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And ev’rywhere the young man turned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There was singing and laughing and dancing.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he stopped a passer-by and he said:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tell me what city is this?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the passer-by laughed and said: Don’t you know?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This is Babylon, Babylon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That great city of Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Come on, my friend, and go along with me.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the young man joined the crowd.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Young man⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Young man⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You’re never lonesome in Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You can always join a crowd in Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Young man⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Young man⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You can never be alone in Babylon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Alone with your Jesus in Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You can never find a place, a lonesome place,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A lonesome place to go down on your knees,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And talk with your God, in Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You’re always in a crowd in Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And the young man went with his new-found friend,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And bought himself some brand new clothes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he spent his days in the drinking dens,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Swallowing the fires of hell.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he spent his nights in the gambling dens,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Throwing dice with the devil for his soul.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he met up with the women of Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Oh, the women of Babylon!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dressed in yellow and purple and scarlet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Loaded with rings and earrings and bracelets,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their lips like a honeycomb dripping with honey,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Perfumed and sweet-smelling like a jasmine flower;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the jasmine smell of the Babylon women",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Got in his nostrils and went to his head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he wasted his substance in riotous living,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the evening, in the black and dark of night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With the sweet-sinning women of Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And they stripped him of his money,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And they stripped him of his clothes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And they left him broke and ragged",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the streets of Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then the young man joined another crowd⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The beggars and lepers of Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he went to feeding swine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he was hungrier than the hogs;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He got down on his belly in the mire and mud",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And ate the husks with the hogs.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And not a hog was too low to turn up his nose",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At the man in the mire of Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then the young man came to himself⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He came to himself and said:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In my father’s house are many mansions,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ev’ry servant in his house has bread to eat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ev’ry servant in his house has a place to sleep;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I will arise and go to my father.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And his father saw him afar off,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he ran up the road to meet him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He put clean clothes upon his back,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And a golden chain around his neck,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He made a feast and killed the fatted calf,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And invited the neighbors in.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Oh-o-oh, sinner,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When you’re mingling with the crowd in Babylon⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Drinking the wine of Babylon⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Running with the women of Babylon⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You forget about God, and you laugh at Death.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Today you’ve got the strength of a bull in your neck",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the strength of a bear in your arms,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But some o’ these days, some o’ these days,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You’ll have a hand-to-hand struggle with bony Death,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Death is bound to win.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Young man, come away from Babylon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That hell-border city of Babylon.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Leave the dancing and gambling of Babylon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The wine and whiskey of Babylon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hot-mouthed women of Babylon;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fall down on your knees,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And say in your heart:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I will arise and go to my Father.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}