Rosa Crenshaw (1886-1898)

Yeah, they buried me in here with a lot of white folks

there's coloreds too, all of us mixed together

now I hear you can't say "colored" no more

you gotta say "black" even if you're not

my teacher Miz May Otey told us folks made from 

the same primal dust, just different shades.

My pa was a preacher and politicked around here

a king fish in the colored part of the county

at the Emancipation Celebration last June

he was Marshal of the Day and oh was he dignified

he did a turkey strut when I got my name in the paper

for not being tardy or absent three months in a row

Miz May Otey sent in all of our names.

After I died of typhoid my daddy went downhill

I heard a woman named Sarah over in Shawnee

shot him dead. I don't doubt he had it coming

but I wish they could have carried him back here 

to lie by me and ‘company me here in my row

but it cost money--the carrying, I mean, not the burying.

If you were poor and the county buried you

that was a dollar that the county paid.

I ain't heard  yet where they buried my pa

but if he was here I'd surely know.