What do I know about the white
People I don’t know       in my blood
Does their blood pale my father’s where
It meets his blood

Where in my body       does the pale
Blood meet the dark blood?       In my heart
How red       might it have been were my
Blood pure,       my heart

Which red? How much       of which red red
A pale       red, or a dark red,       blood
Red,       heart red? White       blood white as blue day
In the heart,       black blood

In the heart,       black as the breathing sundown
My father’s father’s father’s heart
Might all day long have pounded toward
Then through, whose heart

Kept him awake and running all
Night,       might have, or his father’s blood
Rushing, if either ran.       Who runs
Still in my blood

Who chases?       Whose blood darkens where
They meet? Who fights still       in my heart
For what?       What violence is the beat-
ing of my heart