Countee Cullen Poem: "Simon the Cyrenian Speaks" (from COLOR: 1925)

 He never spoke a word to me,

And yet He called my name;

He never gave a sign to me,

And yet I knew and came.

At first I said, "I will not bear

His cross upon my back;

He only seeks to place it there

Because my skin is black."

But He was dying for a dream,

And He was very meek,

And in His eyes there shone a gleam

Men journey far to seek.

It was Himself my pity bought;

I did for Christ alone

What all of Rome could not have wrought

With bruise of lash or stone.

page 12 of "Countee Cullen: Collected Poems" edited by Major Jackson

Library of America Publisher 2013 Tulane University

ISBN 978-1-59853-083-4