2013
A Brown Girl Dead
Composed by 
Lori Laitman
Lori Laitman Text by 
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen Sable Pride Song Collection
Poem by Countee Cullen (1903-1946). Poems used by permission of the Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, LA. Premiere: December 13, 2013, Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor, MI, with Darryl Taylor, countertenor and Kathryn Goodson, piano.
Text
With two white roses on her breasts,
White candles at head and feet,
Dark Madonna of the grave she rests;
Lord Death has found her sweet.
Her mother pawned her wedding ring
To lay her out in white;
She’d be so proud she’d dance and sing
to see herself tonight.