john
somebody coming in blackness
like a star
and the world be a great bush
on his head
and his eyes be fire
in the city
and his mouth be true as time
he be calling the people brother
even in the prison
even in the jail
i’m just only a baptist preacher
somebody bigger than me coming
in blackness like a star
Copyright Credit: Lucille Clifton, "john" from The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton. Copyright © 1987 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted by permission of BOA Editions, Ltd., www.boaeditions.org.
Source: The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton (BOA Editions Ltd., 1980)