African American Poetry (1870-1928): A Digital Anthology

Georgia Douglas Johnson, "The Snarl" (1927)

Editor's Note: This poem was attributed to Frank Horne in the May 1927 issue of The Crisis. In June, a correction notice appeared indicating that the poem was actually written by Georgia Douglas Johnson (see also "The True American"). Thanks to Neal Caren for spotting the correction.

The Snarl
By Frank L. Horne**

Too late to roll the tangled skein 
The knot is taut, what might have been
Passed with the pangs of yesterday—
The secret page of history.

Red blood and white and black combine—
Can you dissever yours from mine?
Such motifs are not thus undone,
Like prowess might command the sun.

Too late to roll the tangled skein,
At first perhaps, this might have been,
‘Tis now too hard and passing late
To disentwine the threads of Fate!


Published in The Crisis, May 1927

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