Evangelist Don L Crowder

Black face preacher boy smiling, Pittsburgh black boy Come snow white all my sins away Come ladle and spoon the church Jehovah's joy Come altar me to kneel and pray Black face boy, jumping up and down in glory From end to end of dais yearning to jump the cage Pulpit acting like a stage, I feel the kingdom rage In the follicles of flesh, tell sin's story Bring back the flock, O, Jesus saves Bring back the word cross the blue waves. O but my black face preacher friend is silent Face skyward and no word is said And in my heart, memory makes lament Donald Leroy Crowder is dead. From 1925 to now is long, long walk A long walk for a black child, all the way to Canaan's home And everywhere a truth seed grows in some fertile loam And I too out of it, a full flaming stalk But when church is full the silence Is sorrows secret evidence. Black face preacher boy smiling, lighting the word In dark hearts and twisted places I tell them do not cry, there's more to be heard Waiting for the morning, traces Of sorrow swept away, waiting for the dawn To come singing, you and that choir, and the angels winging Silence, the black boy salvation in white rejoicing O let the glory come, come dawn O Christ again, come jubilee O grave be glad and set us free.