Saturday's Child
Premier: 1948, Palmer Auditorium, New London CT
Length:
Dancers: Solo for man or woman
Available for Restaging: Yes
Categories: Solo
Music: Spoken Text
Length:
Dancers: Solo for man or woman
Available for Restaging: Yes
Categories: Solo
Music: Spoken Text
About Saturday's Child
Originally performed by Donald McKayle
Performer speaks and dances
Poem • Countee Cullen
Some are teethed on a silver spoon,
With the stars strung for a rattle;
I cut my teeth as the black raccoon––
For implements of battle.
Some are swaddled in silk and down,
And heralded by a star;
They swathed my limbs in a sack cloth gown
On a night that was black as tar.
For some, godfather and goddame
The opulent fairies be;
Dame Poverty gave me my name,
And Pain godfathered me.
For I was born on Saturday––
"Bad time for planting a seed,"
Was all my father had to say,
And, "One mouth more to feed."
Death cut the string which gave me life,
And handed me to Sorrow,
The only kind of middle wife
My folks could beg or borrow.
Performer speaks and dances
Poem • Countee Cullen
Some are teethed on a silver spoon,
With the stars strung for a rattle;
I cut my teeth as the black raccoon––
For implements of battle.
Some are swaddled in silk and down,
And heralded by a star;
They swathed my limbs in a sack cloth gown
On a night that was black as tar.
For some, godfather and goddame
The opulent fairies be;
Dame Poverty gave me my name,
And Pain godfathered me.
For I was born on Saturday––
"Bad time for planting a seed,"
Was all my father had to say,
And, "One mouth more to feed."
Death cut the string which gave me life,
And handed me to Sorrow,
The only kind of middle wife
My folks could beg or borrow.