{
 "id": "james-weldon-johnson/the-rivals",
 "title": "The Rivals",
 "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": 50,
 "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": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 102,
  "n_stanzas": 51,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 72,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Look heah! Is I evah tole you ’bout de curious way I won",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Anna Liza? Say, I nevah? Well heah’s how de thing wuz done.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Lize, you know, wuz mighty purty⁠—dat’s been forty yeahs ago⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’N ’cos to look at her dis minit, you might’n spose dat it wuz so.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She wuz jes de greates’ ’traction in de county, ’n bless de lam’!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Eveh darkey wuz a-co’tin, but it lay ’twix me an’ Sam.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "You know Sam. We both wuz wukin’ on de ole John Tompkin’s place.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’N evehbody wuz a-watchin’ t’see who’s gwine to win de race.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Hee! hee! hee! Now you mus’ raley ’scuse me fu’ dis snickering,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But I jes can’t he’p f’om laffin’ eveh time I tells dis thing.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Ez I wuz a-sayin’, me an’ Sam wuked daily side by side,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He a-studyin’, me a-studyin’, how to win Lize fu’ a bride.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Well, de race was kinder equal, Lize wuz sorter on de fence;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sam he had de mostes dollars, an’ I had de mostes sense.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Things dey run along ’bout eben tel der come Big Meetin’ day;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sam den thought, to win Miss Liza, he had foun’ de shoest way.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "An’ you talk about big meetin’s! None been like it ’fore nor sence;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Der wuz sich a crowd o’ people dat we had to put up tents.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Der wuz preachers f’om de Eas’, an’ ’der wuz preachers f’om de Wes’;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Folks had kilt mos’ eveh chicken, an’ wuz fattenin’ up de res’.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Gals had all got new w’ite dresses, an’ bought ribbens fu’ der hair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fixin’ fu’ de openin’ Sunday, prayin’ dat de day’d be fair.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Dat de Reveren’ Jasper Jones of Mount Moriah, it wuz ’low’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wuz to preach de openin’ sermon; so you know der wuz a crowd.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Fu’ dat man wuz sho a preacher; had a voice jes like a bull;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So der ain’t no use in sayin’ dat de meetin’ house wuz full.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Folks wuz der f’om Big Pine Hollow, some come ’way f’om Muddy Creek,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some come jes to stay fu’ Sunday, but de crowd stay’d thoo de week.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Some come ridin’ in top-buggies wid de w’eels all painted red,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pulled by mules dat run like rabbits, each one tryin’ to git ahead.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Othah po’rer folks come drivin’ mules dat leaned up ’ginst de shaf’,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hitched to broke-down, creaky wagons dat looked like dey’d drap in half.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But de bigges’ crowd come walkin’, wid der new shoes on der backs;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Scuse wuz dat dey couldn’t weah em ’cause de heels wuz full o’ tacks.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Fact is, it’s a job for Job, a-trudgin’ in de sun an’ heat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Down a long an’ dusty clay road wid yo’ shoes packed full o’ feet.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "’Cose dey stopt an’ put dem shoes on w’en dey got mos’ to de do’;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Den dey had to grin an’ bear it; dat tuk good religion sho.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But I mos’ forgot ma story⁠—well at las’ dat Sunday came",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And it seemed dat evehbody, blin’ an’ deef, an’ halt an’ lame,",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Wuz out in de grove a-waitin’ fu’ de meetin’ to begin;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ef dat crowd had got converted ’twould a been de end o’ sin.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Lize wuz der in all her glory, purty ez a big sunflowah,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I kin ’member how she looked jes same ez ’twuz dis ve’y houah.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But to make ma story shorter, w’ile we wuz a-waitin’ der,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Down de road we spied a cloud o’ dus’ dat filled up all de air.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "An’ ez we kep’ on a-lookin’, out f’om ’mongst dat ve’y cloud,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sam, on Marse John’s big mule, Caesar, rode right slam up in de crowd.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "You jes oughtah seed dat darkey, ’clar I like tah loss ma bref;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fu’ to use a common ’spression, he wuz ’bout nigh dressed to def.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He had slipped to town dat Sat’day, didn’t let nobody know,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ had car’yd all his cash an’ lef it in de dry goods sto’.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He had on a bran’ new suit o’ sto’-bought clo’es, a high plug hat;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He looked ’zactly like a gen’man, tain’t no use d’nyin’ dat.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "W’en he got down off dat mule an’ bowed to Liza I could see",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How she looked at him so ’dmirin’, an’ jes kinder glanced at me.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Den I know’d to win dat gal, I sho would need some othah means",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Sides a-hangin’ ’round big meetin’ in a suit o’ homespun jeans.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "W’en dey blow’d de ho’n fu’ preachin’, an’ de crowd all went inside,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I jes felt ez doh I’d like tah go off in de woods an’ hide.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So I stay’d outside de meetin’, set’n underneat’ de trees,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Seemed to me I sot der ages, wid ma elbows on ma knees.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "W’en dey sung dat hymn, “Nobody knows de trouble dat I see,”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Seem’d to me dat dey wuz singin’ eveh word o’ it fu’ me.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Jes how long I might ha’ sot der, actin’ like a cussed fool,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I don’t know, but it jes happen’d dat I look’d an’ saw Sam’s mule.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "An’ de thought come slowly tricklin’ thoo ma brain right der an’ den,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dat, perhaps, wid some persuasion, I could make dat mule ma fren’.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "An’ I jes kep’ on a-thinkin’, an’ I kep’ a-lookin’ ’roun’,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tel I spied two great big san’ spurs right close by me on de groun’.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Well, I took dem spurs an’ put em underneat’ o’ Caesar’s saddle,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So dey’d press down in his backbone soon ez Sam had got a-straddle.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "’Twuz a pretty ticklish job, an’ jes ez soon ez it wuz done,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I went back w’ere I wuz set’n fu’ to wait an’ see de fun.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Purty soon heah come de people, jes a-swa’min’ out de do’,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Talkin’ ’bout de “pow’ful sermon”⁠—“nevah heah’d de likes befo’.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "How de “monahs fell convicted” jes de same ez lumps o’ lead,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How dat some wuz still a-layin’ same es if dey’d been struck dead.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "An’ to rectly heah come Liza, Sam a-strollin’ by her side,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ it seem’d to me dat darky’s smile wuz ’bout twelve inches wide.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Look to me like he had swelled up to ’bout twice his natchul size,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ I heah’d him say, “I’d like to be yo’ ’scort to-night, Miss Lize.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Den he made a bow jes like he’s gwine to make a speech in school,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ walk’d jes ez proud ez Marse John over to untie his mule,",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "W’en Sam’s foot fust touched de stirrup he know’d der wuz sump’n wrong;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Cuz de mule begin to tremble an’ to sorter side along.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Wen Sam raised his weight to mount him, Caesar bristled up his ear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "W’en Sam sot down in de saddle, den dat mule cummenced to rear.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "An’ he reared an’ pitched an’ caper’d, only ez a mule kin pitch,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tel he flung Sam clean f’om off him, landed him squar’ in a ditch.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Wen dat darky riz, well raly, I felt kinder bad fu’ him;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He had bust dem cheap sto’ britches f’om de center to de rim.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All de plug hat dat wuz lef’ him wuz de brim aroun’ his neck,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Smear’d wid mud f’om top to bottom, well, he wuz a sight, I ’speck.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Wuz de folks a-laffin’? Well, su’, I jes sholy thought dey’d bus’;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wuz Sam laffin’? ’Twuz de fus’ time dat I evah heah’d him cuss.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "W’ile Sam slink’d off thoo de backwoods I walk’d slowly home wid Lize,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "W’en I axed her jes one question der wuz sump’n in her eyes",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Made me know der wuz no need o’ any answer bein’ said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ I felt jes like de whole world wuz a-spinnin’ ’roun’ ma head.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So I said, “Lize, w’en we marry, mus’ I weah some sto’-bought clo’es?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She says, “Jeans is good enough fu’ any po’ folks, heaben knows!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}