The man said I could see them if I wanted
He said America would never be
A place where we could live together not at
Least in my lifetime but the damned don’t see
No important differences between the Ne-
gro and the White the damned don’t see no bad
In folks if what bad they done they ain’t free-
ly chose to do the damned don’t see no good
In folks if what good they done they ain’t hoped
To do and the man he said part of momma
Varina part of daddy Jeff alread-
y was burning in Hell I ought to join them
He said we might see good from seeing each other
Tortured we might finally see each other
Copyright © 2016 by Shane McCrae. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 8, 2016, by the Academy of American Poets.