Countee Cullen Quote

"Lord, being dark," I said, "I cannot bear
The further touch of earth, the scented air;
Lord, being dark, forewilled to that despair
My color shrouds me in, I am as dirt
Beneath, my brother's heel; there is a hurt
In all the simple joys which to a child
Are sweet; they contaminate, defiled."

The Shroud of Color (1925)