Georgia Douglas Johnson, "Fulfillment" (1928)
By Georgia D. Johnson
At last I gaze into your eyes and know
The tryst is kept I held against the years
With dire misgivings and with secret fears
Lest you be late, too late: time travels slow
When lovers wait. The evening sun is low—
The kindly earth an autumn garment wears
All brown and golden, as a friend who shares
The others’ fortune, in its ebb and flow.
Drunk with belated rapture hand in hand
At length together, as-I dreamed, we stand,
I hear the beating of your heart, and feel
The wordless messages it would reveal;
At last I gaze into your eyes and see
The perfect answer to the call in me.
Published in The Crisis, August, 1928