I Am the American Negro (collection)/Benjamin Blakey
BENJAMIN BLAKEY
Benjamin Blakey
Did quite well for himself
And the people of his town
It isn't everybody
Who leaves behind
The showplace of his state—
A six-story Odd Fellows Temple
He built and managed—
As well as control of the affairs
Of big Sinai A. M. E. Church
A son who finished Harvard
A daughter with a Vassar degree
A wife so well satisfied outwardly
She never showed jealousy
Of the six women
The town whispered
Her husband kept
Did quite well for himself
And the people of his town
It isn't everybody
Who leaves behind
The showplace of his state—
A six-story Odd Fellows Temple
He built and managed—
As well as control of the affairs
Of big Sinai A. M. E. Church
A son who finished Harvard
A daughter with a Vassar degree
A wife so well satisfied outwardly
She never showed jealousy
Of the six women
The town whispered
Her husband kept
Still
Benjamin Blakey
Would have died more content
Had he ever learned
From which of his mistresses
He contracted
That fatal social disease . . .
Benjamin Blakey
Would have died more content
Had he ever learned
From which of his mistresses
He contracted
That fatal social disease . . .