Death & Dying

Suicide Chant

by Countee Cullen 1903–1946

From Color (1925)

Death & Dying

I am the seed
The Sower sowed;
I am the deed
His hand bestowed
Upon the world.

Censure me not
If a rank weed flood
The garden plot,
Instead of a bud
To be unfurled.

Bridle your blame
If the deed prove less
Than the bruited fame
With which it came
From nothingness.

The seed of a weed
Cannot be flowered,
Nor a hero’s deed
Spring from a coward.

Pull up the weed;
Bring plow and mower;
Then fetch new seed
For the hand of the Sower.

MLA

Cullen, Countee. “Suicide Chant.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/cullen/61/.

Chicago

Cullen, Countee. “Suicide Chant.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/cullen/61/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

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