| James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922. |
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| The Lynching |
| | | Claude McKay (1890–1948) |
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| HIS spirit in smoke ascended to high heaven. | |
| His father, by the cruelest way of pain, | |
| Had bidden him to his bosom once again; | |
| The awful sin remained still unforgiven. | |
| All night a bright and solitary star | 5 |
| (Perchance the one that ever guided him, | |
| Yet gave him up at last to Fate’s wild whim) | |
| Hung pitifully o’er the swinging char. | |
| Day dawned, and soon the mixed crowds came to view | |
| The ghastly body swaying in the sun: | 10 |
| The women thronged to look, but never a one | |
| Showed sorrow in her eyes of steely blue; | |
| And little lads, lynchers that were to be, | |
| Danced round the dreadful thing in fiendish glee. | |
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