I shall die, but that is all that I
shall do for Death.
I hear him leading his horse out
of the stall; I hear the clatter
on the barn-floor.
— -
He is in haste; he has business in
Cuba; business in the Balkans,
many calls to make this morning.
But I will not hold the bridle
while he cinches the girth.
And he may mount by himself: I
will not give him a leg up.
Though he flick my shoulders
with his whip, I will not tell
him which way the fox ran.
With his hoof on my breast, I
will not tell him where the
black boy hides in the swamp.
I shall die, but that is all that I
shall do for Death; I am not
on his pay-roll.
See also Howard Zinn, "Artists of Resistance",The Progressive