I Doubt Not God Is Good, Well-meaning,

Dame Poverty Gave Me My Name, And Pain Godfathered Me.

[w]e Have Always Resented The Natural Inclination Of Most White People To Demand Spirituals The Moment It Is Known That A Negro Is About To Sing. So Often The Request Has Seemed To Savor Of The Feeling That We Could Do This And This Alone.

We Shall Not Always Plant While Others Reap

Quaint, Outlandish Heathen Gods Black Men Fashion Out Of Rods

Death Cut The Strings That Gave Me Life, And Handed Me To Sorrow, The Only Kind Of Middle Wife My Folks Could Beg Or Borrow.