Pour O pour that parting soul in song
O pour it in the sawdust glow of night
Into the velvet pine-smoke air tonight,
And let the valley carry it along.
And let the valley carry it along.
O land and soil, red soil and sweet-gum tree,
So scant of grass, so proligate of pines,
Now hust before an epoch’s sun declines
Thy son, in time, I have returned to thee,
Thy son, I have in time returned to thee.
In time, for though the sun is setting on
A song-lit race of slaves, it has not set;
Though late, O soil, it is not too late yet
To catch thy plaintive soul, leaving, soon gone,
Leaving, to catch thy plaintive soul soon gone.
O Negro slaves, dark purple ripened plums,
Squeezed, and bursting in the pine-wood air,
Passing, before they stripped the old tree bare
One plum was saved for me, one seed becomes
an everlasting song, a singing tree,
Caroling softly souls of slavery,
What they were, and what they are to me,
Caroling softly souls of slavery.
(Jean Toomer)
More Poetry from Jean Toomer:
Jean Toomer Poems based on Topics: Soul, Singing, Nature, Night, Time, Sons, Slavery- Harvest Song (Jean Toomer Poems)
- Seventh Street (Jean Toomer Poems)
- Georgia Dusk (Jean Toomer Poems)
- Banking Coal (Jean Toomer Poems)
- For M.W. (Jean Toomer Poems)
- Cotton Song (Jean Toomer Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Night Poems, Time Poems, Soul Poems, Nature Poems, Sons Poems, Singing Poems, Slavery PoemsBased on Keywords: pine-wood, caroling, hust, sweet-gum, proligate, pine-smoke, song-lit