Page:Darkwater (Du Bois 1920).djvu/265

Rh Blood? Is it wet with blood?

'Tis from my brother's hands.

(I know; his hands are mine.)

It flowed for Thee, O Lord.

War? Not so; not war—

Dominion, Lord, and over black, not white;

Black, brown, and fawn,

And not Thy Chosen Brood, O God,

We murdered.

To build Thy Kingdom,

To drape our wives and little ones,

And set their souls a-glitter—

For this we killed these lesser breeds

And civilized their dead,

Raping red rubber, diamonds, cocoa, gold!

For this, too, once, and in Thy Name,

I lynched a Nigger—

(He raved and writhed,

I heard him cry,

I felt the life-light leap and lie,

I saw him crackle there, on high,

I watched him wither!)

Thou?

Thee?

I lynched Thee?

Awake me, God! I sleep!

What was that awful word Thou saidst?

That black and riven thing—was it Thee?

That gasp—was it Thine?

This pain—is it Thine?

Are, then, these bullets piercing Thee?

Have all the wars of all the world,