The Congo and Other Poems | Page 6

of skull-faced witch-men came?Through the agate doorway in suits of flame,?Yea, long-tailed coats with a gold-leaf crust?And hats that were covered with diamond-dust.?And the crowd in the court gave a whoop and a call?And danced the juba from wall to wall.
# With a great deliberation and ghostliness. # But the witch-men suddenly stilled the throng?With a stern cold glare, and a stern old song: --?"Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you." . . .
# With overwhelming assurance, good cheer, and pomp. # Just then from the doorway, as fat as shotes,?Came the cake-walk princes in their long red coats,?Canes with a brilliant lacquer shine,?And tall silk hats that were red as wine.
# With growing speed and sharply marked dance-rhythm. # And they pranced with their butterfly partners there,?Coal-black maidens with pearls in their hair,?Knee-skirts trimmed with the jassamine sweet,?And bells on their ankles and little black feet.?And the couples railed at the chant and the frown?Of the witch-men lean, and laughed them down.?(O rare was the revel, and well worth while?That made those glowering witch-men smile.)
The cake-walk royalty then began?To walk for a cake that was tall as a man?To the tune of "Boomlay, boomlay, BOOM,"
# With a touch of negro dialect,
and as rapidly as possible toward the end. #
While the witch-men laughed, with a sinister air,?And sang with the scalawags prancing there: --?"Walk with care, walk with care,?Or Mumbo-Jumbo, God of the Congo,?And all of the other?Gods of the Congo,?Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you.?Beware, beware, walk with care,?Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, boom.?Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, boom,?Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, boom,?Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay,?BOOM."
# Slow philosophic calm. #?Oh rare was the revel, and well worth while?That made those glowering witch-men smile.
III. The Hope of their Religion
# Heavy bass. With a literal imitation
of camp-meeting racket, and trance. #
A good old negro in the slums of the town?Preached at a sister for her velvet gown.?Howled at a brother for his low-down ways,?His prowling, guzzling, sneak-thief days.?Beat on the Bible till he wore it out?Starting the jubilee revival shout.?And some had visions, as they stood on chairs,?And sang of Jacob, and the golden stairs,?And they all repented, a thousand strong?From their stupor and savagery and sin and wrong?And slammed with their hymn books till they shook the room?With "glory, glory, glory,"?And "Boom, boom, BOOM."
# Exactly as in the first section.
Begin with terror and power, end with joy. #
THEN I SAW THE CONGO, CREEPING THROUGH THE BLACK?CUTTING THROUGH THE JUNGLE WITH A GOLDEN TRACK.?And the gray sky opened like a new-rent veil?And showed the apostles with their coats of mail.?In bright white steele they were seated round?And their fire-eyes watched where the Congo wound.?And the twelve Apostles, from their thrones on high?Thrilled all the forest with their heavenly cry: --
# Sung to the tune of "Hark, ten thousand
harps and voices". #
"Mumbo-Jumbo will die in the jungle;?Never again will he hoo-doo you,?Never again will he hoo-doo you."
# With growing deliberation and joy. #?Then along that river, a thousand miles?The vine-snared trees fell down in files.?Pioneer angels cleared the way?For a Congo paradise, for babes at play,?For sacred capitals, for temples clean.?Gone were the skull-faced witch-men lean.
# In a rather high key -- as delicately as possible. # There, where the wild ghost-gods had wailed?A million boats of the angels sailed?With oars of silver, and prows of blue?And silken pennants that the sun shone through.?'Twas a land transfigured, 'twas a new creation.?Oh, a singing wind swept the negro nation?And on through the backwoods clearing flew: --
# To the tune of "Hark, ten thousand harps and voices". # "Mumbo-Jumbo is dead in the jungle.?Never again will he hoo-doo you.?Never again will he hoo-doo you."
Redeemed were the forests, the beasts and the men,?And only the vulture dared again?By the far, lone mountains of the moon?To cry, in the silence, the Congo tune: --
# Dying down into a