If you had been born on a foreign strand,
And I, in America free?
If you were I, and I were you,
Do you know what I would do?
If you had been born with a swarthy skin,
And people looked on you with scorn:
While I know nothing is black but sin,
And the soul may be white as the lily at morn;
If I had a chance to uplift you,
Do you know what I would do?