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

Carrie Williams Clifford, "The New Year" (1920)

This poem was originally published in The Crisis in April, 1920. It was reprinted in The Widening Light in 1922. 

The New Year comes--fling wide, fling wide the door
Of Opportunity! the spirit free
To scale the utmost heights of hopes to be,
To rest on peaks ne'er reached by man before!
The boundless infinite let us explore,
To search out undiscovered mystery,
Undreamed of in our poor philosophy!
The bounty of the gods upon us pour!
Nay, in the New Year we shall be as gods:
No longer apish puppets or dull clods
Of clay; but poised, empowered to command,
Upon the Etna of New Worlds we'll stand--
This scant earth-raiment to the winds will cast--
Full richly robed as supermen at last!

 

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