I am a negro that’s
what they say black
as night but must hide
in the day
I am colored to those
who don’t look within
they see with a slave
mentality not the beauty
that transcends
I am a singer of songs
blues to some
bright colors
hues to many
carried my sorrows on
my back which was
plenty
I’ve been a victim still
victimized by chains
still freedom rang in the
heart of a po black
mans hands
but a song I sing
I am a negro black as
the night lynched from
trees in the Mississippi
breeze of a congo freeze
played in the black of
hills as I conceal back
my fright
I am just ragtime shadow
in the night
by Yvonne Coleman-Burney