Carrie Williams Clifford, "An Easter Message" (1920)
At the approach of that triumphant queen,
Pink-fingered Easter, trailing robes of green
Tunefully o'er the flower-embroidered hills,
Her hair perfumed of myriad daffodils:
Upon her swelling bosom now are seen
The dream-frail lilies with their snowy sheen,
As lightly she o'er-leaps the spring-time rills.
To black folk choked within the deadly grasp
Of racial hate, what message does she bring
Of resurrection and the hope of spring?
Assurance their death-stupor is a mask--
A sleep, with elements potential, rife,
Ready to burst full-flowered into life.
Published in The Crisis, April 2020