LIONEL ABEL
20
PARTISAN REVIEW
Ode
A colored boy without
A textbook in the South
But with head bare as if
Always at school
Not at regular school
With truant officers
But another one
Open Sundays, too
Always ready for
An examining
In all the etiquettes
Of every melon breath '
Here is another boy
In Poland, Germany,
It does not matter which
There is no sun indoors
Even his lips are pale
He keeps an old book warm
By rocking, intoning,
With his hat on
UntH the difficult prose
Goes on among oranges,
Colors, characters
So warm they color him
o
what friendly boys!
Sensual, studious,
Which was born for Talmud,
Which for Florida?
