Lullaby
Rock-a-by baby, woolly and brown’¦
(There’s a shout at the door an’ a big red light’¦)
Lil’ coon baby, mammy is down’¦
Han’s that hold yuh are steady an’ white’¦
Look piccaninny - such a gran’ blaze
Lickin’ up the roof an’ the sticks of home -
Ever see the like in all yo’ days!
—Cain’t yuh sleep, mah bit-of-honey-comb?
Rock-a-by baby, up to the sky!
Look at the cherries driftin’ by -
Bright red cherries spilled on the groun’ -
Piping-hot cherries at nuthin’ a poun’!
Hush, mah lil’ black-bug - doan yuh weep.
Daddy’s run away an’ mammy’s in a heap
By her own fron’ door in the blazin’ heat
Outah the shacks like warts on the street’¦
An’ the singin’ flame an’ the gleeful crowd
Circlin’ aroun’¦ won’t mammy be proud!
With a stone at her hade an’ a stone on her heart,
An’ her mouth like a red plum, broken apart’¦
See where the blue an’ khaki prance,
Adding brave colors to the dance
About the big bonfire white folks make -
Such gran’ doin’s fo’ a lil’ coon’s sake!
Hear all the eagah feet runnin’ in town -
See all the willin’ han’s reach outah night -
Han’s that are wonderful, steady an’ white!
To toss up a lil’ babe, blinkin’ an’ brown’¦
Rock-a-by baby - higher an’ higher!
Mammy is sleepin’ an’ daddy’s run lame’¦
(Soun’ may yuh sleep in yo’ cradle o’ fire!)
Rock-a-by baby, hushed in the flame’¦
(An incident of the East St. Louis Race Riots, when some white women flung
a living colored baby into the heart of a blazing fire.)
