To Sallie, Walking - Sterling A. Brown
Your vividness grants color where Great need is, in this dingy town, As you in pride of rose and brown Thread the dull thoroughfare. Across the Southern sleepiness Flashes a something swiftly real: The unavoidable appeal Of your sharp loveliness. And not as Cavalier scions, do These listless Southrons, furtive-eyed, Greet gracefully your proper pride, - But wonderstruck at you, Regret awhile, that aliens They will remain, darkly allured By an inviolable, assured, Laughing indifference. You pass, provocative, discreet, Serenely waving to his place, Each lover of your bronzen face, Your merry, flashing feet. The impudence filling your eyes Will call down on your swarthy ...