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

Gwendolyn Bennett, "Song (Oh, my sweet...)" (1926)

Oh, my sweet,
I shall paint you a picture
And call it spring
Cool greens and sheep
Upon a smoke-blue hill,
And now and then
A puff of snow-white cloud.
I shall write you a poem
And call it spring, too—
A poem of soft, warm words
With little shocks of bright delight ...
Deep in the center
Of my inmost self
There sleeps a song—
A laughing tune
Of trills and rhymes.....

The hidden song is such a silly thing,
But I shall name it—very softly—SPRING!


Published in Palms, October 1926