Mercedes is a jungle-lily in a death house. 
Mercedes is a doomed star. 
Mercedes is a charnel rose. 
Go where gold 
Will fall at the feet of your beauty,
Mercedes. 
Go where they will pay you well 
For your loveliness. 

From The Weary Blues (Alfred A. Knopf, 1926) by Langston Hughes. This poem is in the public domain.