1. Blackness is no defect as long as I have
This eloquent tongue and steadfast heart.

2. He whose pride springs from his origin
Has made my poems spring from my roots.

3. How far between the black man, fluent in his speech,
Refined in spirit, and the silent white man!

4. The high-born man may envy me for the merit
Of my works, though he feels no joy for me.