Fifty Years & Other Poems/An Explanation

by James Weldon Johnson

An Explanation

Look heah! 'Splain to me de reasonWhy you said to Squire Lee,Der wuz twelve ole chicken thievesIn dis heah town, includin' me.Ef he tole you dat, my brudder,He said sump'n dat warn't true;W'at I said wuz dis, dat der wuzTwelve, widout includin' you.

Oh! . . . !—