A Roman Holiday from <ref target="http://harlemshadows.org">Harlem Shadows: A Digital Edition</ref> This file is produced from the material at Harlem Shadows: A Digital Edition December 6, 2015 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical 4.0 International This file is generated from a master file containing the text of Claude McKay's 1922 collection of poems Harlem Shadows and related documents (other appearances of McKay's poems, reviews, and related material). The base text for this file is drawn from the item listed below. Claude McKay A Roman Holiday The Liberator (July, 1919): 21 A Roman Holiday A Roman Holiday 'Tis but a modern Roman holiday; Each state invokes its soul of basest passion, Each vies with each to find the ugliest way To torture Negroes in the fiercest fashion. Black Southern men, like hogs await your doom! White wretches hunt and haul you from your huts, They squeeze the babies out your women's womb, They cut your members off, rip out your guts! It is a Roman holiday, and worse: It is the mad beast risen from his lair, The dead accusing years' eternal curse, Reeking of vengeance, in fulfilment here. Bravo Democracy! Hail greatest Power That saved sick Europe in her darkest hour!