First published in the May, 1924 edition of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, Countee Cullen’s “Simon the Cyrenian Speaks” reimagines a minor incident in the life of Jesus Christ as recorded in scripture from the point of view of a character appearing only once and fleetingly described. Simon the Cyrenian appears in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke in the Bible. The entirety of his appearance collectively contained with these different accounts is that he was man named Simon arrived from a place in the country called Cyrene who was compelled by Roman soldiers to briefly assist Jesus on the way to the crucifixion by helping to carry the cross.
That is literally an exhaustive inventory of everything that is known about this character. From that paltry reportage of no less than three different eyewitness account of the events—or so Christianity would one have one believe—Countee Cullen reinterprets the story from the perspective of Simon to create a poetic narrative that directly touches upon the issue of racism as well as religious conversion.
The opening words inform the reader that the perspective of the story related in the three gospels has been shifted to that of Simon. That the poem will touch upon religious conversion is conveyed through the first stanza’s portrayal of Jesus Christ calling to Simon without any words or gestures. The feeling of the presence of Christ suddenly inhabiting his mind is literally described in a way that speaks to the metaphorical experience of those who are “born again” into Christianity commencing that process without yet having been officially “introduced” to Jesus.
The second stanza introduces the issue of race into the story. This introduction is twofold. First, this is the moment that Cullen’s Simon raises the issue. Since there is no indication of Simon’s race mentioned in any of the gospels, it may also quite literally be the first time that Simon was ever described as a Black man. Interestingly, Simon begins this stanza with the announcement that he had no intention of helping to carry the cross before he introduces the fact that he is Black. It is as if Simon wants to make clear that his opposition to helping Jesus has nothing to do with race, but his being singularly chosen out of all the people watching the spectacle has to do with nothing but race.
One thing that the gospel writers do make fairly clear—although, as usual, it could certainly be less ambiguous—is that it is the Roman soldiers who single out Simon. This remains true in the poetic retelling, and it is the basis for the addition of a racial component. Simon is suggesting that, as an outsider from Cyrene surrounded by others who were native to a location he was merely visiting, he was singled out because of his appearance. In other words, he was the only Black man within the field of vision of the Romans and so he was chosen to bear the brunt of the weight of the cross as an explicit act of racial prejudice.
As indicated previously, however, this is a poem about both racism and religious conversion. The brilliance of the poem is that the conversion element is inextricably related to the racist element. Simon is instantly ready to reject the insistence by the Romans that he take over the burden of carrying the heavy cross. The suddenly of this decision seems to be an automatic rejection to a situation in which he has found himself before. There would be no reason for him to leap to the conclusion of racial prejudice by the Romans unless he had either experienced or witness demonstrations of it in the past.
So, at this point, it should be clear that the Romans are intended to symbolize America in its treatment of Black people. And yet, Simon eventually does wind up carrying the cross and sharing the burden. The final lines answer the question of why this change of mind takes place while also speaking both directly to the themes of racism and religious conversation. Looking back on this moment which gave him a memorable cameo in the story of Jesus as presented in scripture, Cullen’s Simon asserts that all the weapons of brutality the Roman soldiers had their disposal could not have made him pick up that cross. His experience with their racism is here confirmed to be extensive enough for him to have reached a point of defiance regardless of the price. It was not, therefore, the military might of Rome that urged him forward to help carry the cross, but rather his religious epiphany that wrought an immediate conversion. Simon sees in Jesus the worth of sacrifice for a greater good, of being willing to die to improve the world. He describes Jesus as “very meek” which implies by association that the Romans were significantly more authoritarian in their insistence he follow their orders.
Ultimately, the poem is about a man who did not know Jesus and likely had never even heard of him suddenly being overcome by the presence and love of Christ to convert to a true believer. The key point being that Jesus brought about this loyalty and love on the part of Simon without whips or harsh words or threats or actual violence. Without so much as lifting a finger or saying a word, but merely through conveying a sense of brotherhood and understanding and respect, Jesus convinced Simon to worship him in a way the Roman Empire never could have. The lesson can be extrapolated, needless to say, and applied to Americans who failed to the learn the lesson from a fallen empire as surely as they failed to heed the lesson of the savior they claim to worship,
