# The Black Christ, & other poems Author: Cullen, Countee, 1903-1946; Cullen, Charles, 1888-1939 [Illustrator] Genre: African Americans -- Poetry Language: English License: Public domain Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77442 Amazon editions: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Black+Christ%2C+%26+other+poems+Cullen&tag=cyberlibrar00-20 ## Summary Once like a lady In a silken dress, The serpent might eddy Through the wilderness, Billow and glow And undulate In a rustling flow Of sinuous hate. Now dull-eyed and leaden, Of having lost His Eden He pays the cost. He shuns the tree That brought him low As grown to be Domestic; no Temptations dapple, From leaf to root, The modern apple Our meekest fruit. Dragon and griffin And basilisk Whose stare could stiffen, And the hot breath whisk From the overbold Braving a gaze So freezing cold, Who sings their praise These latter days? That venemous head On a woman fair,-- Medusa’s dead Of the hissing hair. No beasts are made Meet for the whir Of that sunken blade Excalibur. No smithies forge A... ## Chapters - [Part 2](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/the-black-christ-and-other-poems-77442/chapters/2/index.md) - [Part 3](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/the-black-christ-and-other-poems-77442/chapters/3/index.md) - [Part 1](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/the-black-christ-and-other-poems-77442/chapters/1/index.md) - [Part 4](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/the-black-christ-and-other-poems-77442/chapters/4/index.md)