And What Shall You Say? by Joseph S. Cotter, Jr. James Weldon Johnson, ed. 1922. The Book of American Negro Poetry

James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922.

And What Shall You Say?

Joseph S. Cotter, Jr.


BROTHER, come!
And let us go unto our God.
And when we stand before Him
I shall say—
“Lord, I do not hate,	5
I am hated.
I scourge no one,
I am scourged.
I covet no lands,
My lands are coveted.	10
I mock no peoples,
My people are mocked.”
And, brother, what shall you say?