Jonathan H. Brooks, "Still I am Marveling" (1928)
(After reading Countee Cullen’s ‘Yet Do I Marvel’)
By JonatHan H. Brooks
MY friend, you marvel how this thing can be,
A blackened bard is told to sing; and |
Am moved to supplement you:
I muse why And when Apollo’s rare proclicity;
How he can muster ample nerve to try
This way of beauty, knowing full well, Ay!
How, begging, Homer died. I dimly see,
Since it is proved that dye of any hue
Does not impair the essence of a thing.
How two of equal gifts and chance may do
An equal deed. Still I am marvelling—
How one black poet ploughs the whole day long
And burns the oil of midnight for a song.
Published in Opportunity, September 1928