Caroling Dusk

Prayer⁠17

I ask you this:
Which way to go?
I ask you this:
Which sin to bear?
Which crown to put
Upon my hair?
I do not know,
Lord God,
I do not know.

Song for a Dark Girl⁠18

Way down South in Dixie
  (Break the heart of me)
They hung my black young lover
  To a cross roads tree.

Way down South in Dixie
  (Bruised body high in air)
I asked the white Lord Jesus
  What was the use of prayer.

Way down South in Dixie
  (Break the heart of me)
Love is a naked shadow
  On a gnarled and naked tree.