African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology

Countee Cullen, "Confession" (1926)

Awarded Honorable Mention--Opportunity Contest

If for a day joy masters me,
   Think not my wounds are healed;
Far deeper than the scars you see
   I keep their roots concealed.

They shall bear blossoms with the fall;
   I have their word for this 
Who tend my roots with rains of gall,
   And suns of prejudice.


Published in Opportunity, July 1926

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