Black Man o’ Mine, If the world were your lover, It could not
give what I give to you, Or the ocean would yield and you could
discover Its ages of treasure to hold and to view; Could it fill
half the measure of my heart’s portion . . . Just for you
living, just for you giving all this devotion, Black man o’
mine. Black man o’ mine, As I hush and caress you, close to my
heart, All your loving is just your needing what is true; Then
with your passing dark comes my darkest part, For living without
your love is only rue. Black man o’ mine, if the world were your
lover It could not give what I give to you. Poet Anne Spencer,
of Bramwell WV, was born on February 6, 1882. Many of Spencer’s
poems convey a romantic concern with the human search for beauty
and meaning in a disgusting world, as well as people’s wasted
attempts to enforce order on God’s earth. While attending
Lynchburg’s Virginia Seminary Spencer penned her first poem, The
Skeptic (1896), and also met her future husband, Edward. The
couple married on May