Caroling dusk : $b an anthology of verse by Negro poets
General
Caroling dusk : $b an anthology of verse by Negro poets
African Americans -- Poetry; American poetry -- African American authors
The big sun in its blue dome keeps its course,
Without a falter moves upon its way.
So human life, returning to its source,
Is overtaken by the close of day.
To dream, and being rudely waked from thought,
Return to peaceful dreaming dearly bought.
LULA LOWE WEEDEN
Lula Lowe Weeden was born in Lynchburg, Va., Feb.
4, 1918. Her mother, Mrs. Lula L. Weeden, herself a
poet of ability, writes of this youngest of Negro singers:
“She is a very close observer. Each flower in my garden
she knows. Sometimes she counts each bloom, lingering
over those she likes most.
“Each one of my children is very distinct in her make
up. Lula is quiet, sweet and unselfish, a decided contrast
to the second. This gives each a chance for moral development
while trying to adjust her little mind to the other. A
few nights ago, Iola the second child slapped Mary the
baby. Lula said to Iola, ‘You are not being a good citizen
when you strike back even if Mary did slap you.’ Another
time, Iola was saying what her teacher had said
about her. Lula remarked, ‘It is not what she says you
do, it is what you do do.’ Neither statement meant much
to Iola.
“I have always mixed my night time stories with ‘Home
spun ones.’ All seem to like them best. I asked Lula
since Christmas why she liked my stories. She said because
they seemed to be true, and criticized fairy stories.
“I have emphasized racial stories for this reason--I
was born on a big farm. There were many employed by
my father, also tenants. With these we were not allowed
to mingle. On the edge of the farm there was a white
school. There was a barrier also. Those little girls with
golden locks looked like little angels to me. How I
wished to be like them with their shrill voices and laughter.
They seemed so happy. I just thought of them as things
apart. It took much to get this false conception out of
me. They were just God sent. This I have tried not to
have my children to fight. Now neither one wishes to be
white or dislikes them. To them, they all seem like
people.
“Lula does most of her writing at night. It is a privilege
to remain a few minutes after the other children to
finish something. Some nights she will write several. She
mumbles them to herself before she begins to write and
then keeps saying the words softly. She will finish this
and will draw figures and flowers or people. This she
does very well for a child until she says, ‘I am going to
write something else.’ Interruptions don’t seem to bother
her very much as the little ones are always saying something
to make her laugh. I usually attempt to quiet them,
but some of her best things are written with many around.
“When she shows them to me, she watches for a favorable
expression. I always try to be pleased, but somehow
she knows from my face that that was not so good,
then remarks, ‘I am going to write something else.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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