| James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922. |
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| The Scarlet Woman |
| | | Fenton Johnson |
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| ONCE I was good like the Virgin Mary and the Minister’s wife. | |
| My father worked for Mr. Pullman and white people’s tips; but he died two days after his insurance expired. | |
| I had nothing, so I had to go to work. | |
| All the stock I had was a white girl’s education and a face that enchanted the men of both races. | |
| Starvation danced with me. | 5 |
| So when Big Lizzie, who kept a house for white men, came to me with tales of fortune that I could reap from the sale of my virtue I bowed my head to Vice. | |
| Now I can drink more gin than any man for miles around. | |
| Gin is better than all the water in Lethe. | |
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