Day and Night
The day is a Negro
Yelling out of breath.
The night is a Negro
Laughing up to death.
The day is a jazz band
Blasting loud and wild.
The night is a jazz band
Moaning Blues songs, child.
The day is the sunshine
Undressed in the stree.
The night is the sunshine
Dressed from head to feet.
I am like a rainbow
Arched across the way.
Yes, I am a rainbow
Being night nor day.
From Caroling Dusk (Harper & Brothers, 1927), edited by Countee Cullen. This poem is in the public domain.
Lewis Grandison Alexander
Lewis Grandison Alexander was born in 1900 in Washington D. C.. An editor, actor, and playwright, his poems appeared in the magazines The Crisis, Opportunity, and Fire!!, as well as the anthologies The New Negro (Albert and Charles Boni, 1925), Caroling Dusk (Harper & Brothers, 1927), and Ebony and Topaz (1927). He died in 1945.