James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922.

Del Cascar

DEL CASCAR, Del Cascar,

Stood upon a flaming star,

Stood, and let his feet hang down

Till in China the toes turned brown.

And he reached his fingers over

The rim of the sea, like sails from Dover,

And caught a Mandarin at prayer,

And tickled his nose in Orion’s hair.

The sun went down through crimson bars,

And left his blind face battered with stars—

But the brown toes in China kept

Hot the tears Del Cascar wept.