On Seeing Two Brown Boys in a Catholic Church

It is fitting that you be here,
Little brown boys
With Christ-like eyes
And curling hair.

Look you on yon crucifix
Where He hangs nailed and pierced
With head hung low
And eyes a’blind with blood that drips
From a thorny crown . . .
Look you well,
You shall know this thing.

Judas’ kiss will burn your cheek
And you shall be denied
By your Peter —
And Gethsemane . . .
You shall know full well
Gethsemane . . .

You, too, will suffer under Pontius Pilate
And feel the rugged cut of rough hewn cross
Upon your surging shoulder —
They will spit in your face
And laugh . . .
They will nail you up twixt thieves
And gamble for your little garments.

And in this you will exceed God
For on this earth
You shall know Hell —

O little brown boys
With Christ-like eyes
And curling hair
It is fitting that you be here.

Credit

From The Book of American Negro Poetry (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922), edited by James Weldon Johnson. This poem is in the public domain.

Author

Frank Horne

Frank Smith Horne was born in New York, New York, on August 18, 1899, to the private contractor and builder, Edwin Fletcher Horne, and to Cora Calhoun Horne. He was the third of four sons. Horne’s family was middle-class, and his parents were active, early members of the NAACP. He was an uncle to singer and actress Lena Horne. Horne earned a BS from City College of New York in 1921, and later graduated from the Northern Illinois College of Ophthalmology with the degree of doctor of optometry in 1923. He completed his education with an MA from USC in 1932.

Date Published

01/01/1922