The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1889-07-27
7HoW1NG THE WANGA.


7HoWING THE WANGA.
st. Johns EVE.
Shrin over dark blue Pontchartrain
II comes and goes the weird rcfrain,
Wangel wanga!
The trackless swamp is quick with cries
OF noisome things that dip and riso
On night-grOwn wings; and In the deep
Dark pools the ,nonstrous forms that sloep
Inert by day uplift their heads.
The zela flower lis poison sheds
Upon the warm and lanGuorOus air;
Tho 1ake-vine weavos its noxious snare;
The wide palmetto leaves are stirred
By venoiped breathings, family heard
Across the still, star-lighted night.
Her lonely spice fed fire, alight
Upon the black swatnp's utmost rim.
Now spreads and flares, now shoulders
dim
And at her feet they curl and break,
Tho dark blue waters Of tho lake.
Old withered arms, whose charm has fed.
Zizi, Creole Zizi,
You is slim am straight ez q saplin'
Dat grows by the 6syou's sidge;
You is brown an sleek ez young Bob
White
whar hides in dc yaller sedge.
Yo' eyes is black am shiny,
An quick ez dc lightnin' flash:
You wuz bawn in de time or freedom,
AM never is felt de lash.
Mo, kin th'ow wanga!
Her dusky face is wracked and scanned,
That once like ebon marble cleaned.
Iizi, Creole Zizi,
You is spry ON yo' foot eZ de jaybird
Whar totes de debble his SAM;
You kin tole the buckra to yo' side
By the turning o. yo' ham.
Yo, ways is sweet ez de sugar
You puts in yo' pralines,
Whom de orange flower on the bapqnotte
draps,
AM do pistacho- nut is green.
Me, kin th'ow wanga!
He knotted shoulders, brown and bare.
The deathless scars of slavehood wear.
Zizi, Creole Zizi,
You is cropo lak to de do'-yard
An yon stole dc ole MAN. heart erway
Wild dc laughin' in yo' eye.
NV ole man! de chillun's daddy -
We is hood do cotton row
Au' shucked dc corn-shuck side by side
For forty year an moi
Me, kin th'ow wanga!
Tho flames that leap about her feet
Burn with u perfume strange and sweet.
Zizi, Creole Zizi,
'Twis' yo'se'f in dc coonjine
LAX u Moccasin in dc slime;
Twis' yo'se'f when de fiddle talks
For dc las enduring time.
Den vase tor de bono in de midnight.
In de mawnin' vase erway;
Bum wild heat in de winter-time,
AM shiver de hotties day
Wanga! wanga! -,
Onder yo' nan'tin' tisnon
Dc retl-hot BEETLES crawl,
Wild claws dat SCO'Ch inter de meat.
An mex dc blood-draps fall!
Over yo' bed do screcch-owl
In de midnight sereech an cry!
Den kiver yo' head, Creole Rizi
Den kiver yo' head an die
Wanga! wanga!
Her voice is hushed, she crouches low
Above the ember's hickerinY glow.
Tho swamp-wind wakes, and many thing
Unnamed fits by on furry wing;
They brush her checks unfelt she hears
The far-of songs OF other years.
Her eyes grow tendor as she sways
And croons aboye the dying blaze.
Oh, do cabin at co quarter in de old plan
tation days.
Wild do garden patch behin' it aud de
gode-vine by de do,
An de do yard sot wild rosen, whar de
chillun runs and plays,
An de streak o. sunshine. yaller lax,
er-sIantin' on de ffo!
we WIZ young uh lahiy LIkSeTS wuen ue
ole man fotch me home.
O!c Mis- she gin de weddin', an young
Mis- she dress de bride!
lie say he gwineter love mo 'twal do time
% kingdom come,
An forty year an uperds we is trabbIe
side by side!
But oio Mars wuz killed at Shiloh, an
young Mars at Wilderness;
. oio Mis- is in de graveyard, wild young
Mis- by her side,
Au' all er we all's family is scattered eas'
am wes',
An de gode vine by the cabin do an de
roses all has died!
Ny chillun dey is scattered too, an some
is onder groun',
Hit wuz forty year an upcrds, we IL
trabble, him An mel
Ole Mis- whar is de glory o. de freedom
is found7
De ole man he is lep me fer de young
eyes o'Iizi
Her arms are wild above her head,
The softness from her voice has He'd.
Wi. Creole Zizi.
This, yo'self in dc coonjine
LAX moccasin in de slime;
Kunjur de ole man wild yo, eye
Fer de las endurin' time!
Den cry an mo n in do mawnin',
In de midnight mon an cry.
Twel de debblo has you, ham an foot,
Den stro.ch yo'se'f an diel-
Wangal wangai
| l-Aoiiie E. Moore Davis, in Harper
Weekly, Juty 20.