"Cross"
My old man's a white old man
And my old mother's black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I'm sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well.
My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder where I'm going to die,
Again, we see the three foot iambic line emphatically end the stanza, sort of grounding the slight deviation and trochaic substitution found early in the poem. With the end of the second quatrain, the poem appears to be wrapping itself up, almost comfortable, as the speaker seems to repent for his past anger, and arrive at a form of acceptance. But this idea is complicated with the introduction of death in the final quatrain.
Cross