"We shall not always plant while others reap

The golden increment of bursting fruit,

Nor always countenance, abject and mute,

That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap;

Not everlastingly while others sleep

Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute,

Not always bend to some more subtle brute.

We were not made eternally to weep.

The night, whose sable breast relieves the stark,

White stars, is no less lovely being dark;

And there are buds that cannot bloom at all

In light, but crumple, piteous, and fall.

So in the dark we hid the heart that bleeds,

And wait, and tend our agonizing needs."

In context, the expression "hold their brothers cheap," is best interpreted as

The Black Tower is a poem that was written in a time when social life for African American people was extremely restrictive and this is reflected in several lines, and the meaning of this is that African American had to be in a lower level while white people kept on restricting them and how even among themselves there was a strong attitude of self-control and alienation from a lot of benefits and opportunities.

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