Page:The book of American negro poetry.djvu/63

Rh

Pray why are you so bare, so bare,
 * Oh, bough of the old oak-tree;

And why, when I go through the shade you throw,
 * Runs a shudder over me?

My leaves were green as the best, I trow,
 * And sap ran free in my veins,

But I saw in the moonlight dim and weird
 * A guiltless victim's pains.

I bent me down to hear his sigh;
 * I shook with his gurgling moan,

And I trembled sore when they rode away,
 * And left him here alone.

They'd charged him with the old, old crime.
 * And set him fast in jail:

Oh, why does the dog howl all night long,
 * And why does the night wind wail?

He prayed his prayer and he swore his oath,
 * And he raised his hand to the sky;

But the beat of hoofs smote on his ear,
 * And the steady tread drew nigh.

Who is it rides by night, by night.
 * Over the moonlit road?

And what is the spur that keeps the pace.
 * What is the galling goad?