Georgia Douglas Johnson, "Decay" (1926)
Across the swaying summer grasses bed
As on in breathless haste you hurry me
To Winter with its chilling winds and snow.
The noontide hour is fading—in my hair
The furtive shadows caper and recline.
I tell my beads of amethyst and gold
So near at end, so passing dear and fair.
Published in The Crisis, November 1926