Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
Upstairs DownstairsHervey Allen
From “The Sea-islands”
T
With dull decorum and its implication,
Has all his servants in to family prayers
And edifies his soul with exhortation.
Meanwhile, his blacks live wastefully downstairs;
Not always chaste, they manage to exist
With less decorum than the judge upstairs,
And find withal a something that he missed.
Who tarried for a fortnight in our city,
Remarked one evening at the meal, before
We paralyzed him silent with our pity;
Saying the black man, living with the white,
Had given more than white men could requite.