Little black boy

My mother bore me in the western wild,
And i am black, but my soul is white
White as snow is the English child
but i am black as if deprived of light

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My mother taught me under a tree
And sitting before the heat of the day
She took me with in arms and kissed me
And pointing to the east began to say

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Look at the rising sun; there God lives
And gives his light and his heat away
And flowers and plant and animals and men
Receive comfort in the morning and joy at noon

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And we are put on earth
That we may learn to bear the beams of love,
And this black bodies and this sun-burnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove

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For when our souls have learnt to bear the heat
The clouds will vanish and we shall hear his voice
Saying come out from the grove my love,
And rejoice around my golden tent like lambs

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This my mother said to me and kissed me
And this i say to the little English boy
when i he formed black and the clouds he formed white
And around the tent of God we shall rejoice like lambs

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I'll shade him from the heat until he can bear it
To lean in joy upon our fathers knee.
And this i'll stand and stroke his black hair
And be like him and he will love me

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