In A Sundown Town Poem by Melvina Germain

Privileged was not what described me
I’m a Black man from the ghetto you see
I have no worldly goods,
no money or property

in a sundown town

everyone stares,
they know I’m from the hood
As I trudge softly along
Humming to myself
Listening to whispers,
watching nodding heads,
negative reactions
such I truly dread

in a sundown town

invisible daggers tossed
Thank God they couldn’t kill
Watching the clock as time grew nigh
by sundown, I had to say good bye

in this old sundown town

No place for me in this sundown town,

with skin black as coal or sure fire
ebony. People look at me and that's
all they see.

in a sundown town