Zora Neale Hurston, "Passion" (1922)
When I look back
On days already lived
I am content.
For I have laughed
With the dew of morn,
The calm of night;
With the dawn of youth
And spring's bright days.
Mid-summer's bloom
And autumn's ripening glory
My youth rejoiced.
And when winter bleak
Spread melancholy 'round
I still smiled on.
And I have loved
With quivering arms that
Clung, and throbbing breast--
With all the white-hot blood
Of mating's flaming urge.
My cool, white soul
Has oft fared forth
In Astral ways,
for none may lag
When star dust hides the earth.
The wing of dreams
Have swept me up
To touch my feed on cloud
And wander where none
But souls dare climb.
Published in Negro World, April 15, 1922