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A Negro Sermon
ONCE, in a night as black as ink, | |
| She drove him out when he would not drink. | |
| Round the house there were men in wait | |
| Asleep in rows by the Gaza gate. | |
| But the Holy Spirit was in this man. | 5 |
| Like a gentle wind he crept and ran. | |
| (“It is midnight,” said the big town clock.) | |
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| He lifted the gates up, post and lock. | |
| The hole in the wall was high and wide | |
| When he bore away old Gaza’s pride | 10 |
| Into the deep of the night: | |
| The bold Jack-Johnson Israelite— | |
| Samson, the Judge, the Nazarite. | |
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| The air was black, like the smoke of a dragon. | |
| Samson’s heart was as big as a wagon. | 15 |
| He sang like a shining golden fountain; | |
| He sweated up to the top of the mountain. | |
| He threw down the gates with a noise like judgment. | |
| And the quails all ran with the big arousement. | |
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| But he wept: “I must not love tough queens, | 20 |
| And spend on them my hard-earned means. | |
| I told that girl I would drink no more. | |
| Therefore she drove me from her door. | |
| Oh, sorrow, | |
| Sorrow, | 25 |
| I cannot hide! | |
| O Lord, look down from your chariot side! | |
| You made me Judge, and I am not wise; | |
| I am weak as a sheep for all my size.” | |
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| Let Samson | 30 |
| Be coming | |
| Into your mind. | |
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| The moon shone out, the stars were gay— | |
| He saw the foxes run and play. | |
| He rent his garments, he rolled around | 35 |
| In deep repentance on the ground. | |
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| Then he felt a honey in his soul; | |
| Grace abounding made him whole. | |
| Then he saw the Lord in a chariot blue. | |
| The gorgeous stallions whinnied and flew; | 40 |
| The iron wheels hummed an old hymn-tune | |
| And crunched in thunder over the moon. | |
| And Samson shouted to the sky: | |
| “My Lord, my Lord is riding high.” | |
| Like a steed, he pawed the gates with his hoof; | 45 |
| He rattled the gates like rocks on the roof, | |
| And danced in the night | |
| On the mountain-top; | |
| Danced in the deep of the night— | |
| The Judge, the holy Nazarite, | 50 |
| Whom ropes and chains could never bind. | |
| |
| Let Samson | |
| Be coming | |
| Into your mind. | |
| |
| Whirling his arms, like a top he sped; | 55 |
| His long black hair flew around his head | |
| Like an outstretched net of silky cord, | |
| Like a wheel of the chariot, of the Lord. | |
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| Let Samson | |
| Be coming | 60 |
| Into your mind. | |
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| Samson saw the sun anew. | |
| He left the gates in the grass and dew. | |
| He went to a county-seat a-nigh, | |
| Found a harlot proud and high, | 65 |
| Philistine that no man could tame— | |
| Delilah was her lady-name. | |
| Oh, sorrow, | |
| Sorrow— | |
| She was too wise! | 70 |
| She cut off his hair, | |
| She put out his eyes. | |
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| Let Samson | |
| Be coming | |
| Into your mind. | 75 |
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