Langston Hughes - The South lyrics

The lazy, laughing South With blood on its mouth. The sunny-faced South, Beast-strong, Idiot-brained. The child-minded South Scratching in the dead fire's ashes For a Negro's bones. Cotton and the moon, Warmth, earth, warmth, The sky, the sun, the stars, The magnolia-scented South. Beautiful, like a woman, Seductive as a dark-eyed who*e, Pa**ionate, cruel, Honey-lipped, syphilitic — That is the South. And I, who am black, would love her But she spits in my face. And I, who am black, Would give her many rare gifts But she turns her back upon me. So now I seek the North — The cold-faced North, For she, they say, Is a kinder mistress, And in her house my children May escape the spell of the South.