Le sporting-club de Monte Carlo (for Lena Horne)
The lady is a tramp
a camp
a lamp
The lady is a sight
a might
a light
the lady devastated
an alley or two
reverberated through the valley
which leads to me, and you
the lady is the apple
of God's eye:
He's cool enough about it
but He tends to strut a little
when she passes by
the lady is a wonder
daughter of the thunder
smashing cages
legislating rages
with the voice of ages
singing us through.
James Baldwin, "Le sporting-club de Monte Carlo (for Lena Horne)" from Jimmy’s Blues. Copyright © 2014 by The James Baldwin Estate. Reprinted by permission of Beacon Press.
Source:
Jimmy's Blues and Other Poems
(Beacon, 2014)
