fifty years & other poems by james weldon johnson author of
fifty years & other poems by james weldon johnson author of
fifty years & other poems by james weldon johnson author of
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Of sunless days, and nights <strong>of</strong> starless skies;<br />
Enough for me, the calm and steadfast light<br />
That s<strong>of</strong>tly shines within your loving eyes.<br />
The world, for me, and all the world can hold<br />
Is circled <strong>by</strong> your arms; for me there lies,<br />
Within the lights and shadows <strong>of</strong> your eyes,<br />
The only beauty that is never old.<br />
VENUS IN A GARDEN<br />
VASHTI<br />
'Twas at early morning,<br />
The dawn was blushing in her purple bed,<br />
When in a sweet, embowered garden<br />
She, the fairest <strong>of</strong> the goddesses,<br />
The lovely Venus,<br />
Roamed amongst the roses white and red.<br />
She sought for flowers<br />
To make a garland<br />
For her golden head.<br />
Snow-white roses, blood-red roses,<br />
In that sweet garden close,<br />
Offered incense to the goddess:<br />
Both the white and the crimson rose.<br />
White roses, red roses, blossoming:<br />
But the fair Venus knew<br />
The crimson roses had gained their hue<br />
From the hearts that for love had bled;<br />
And the goddess made a garland<br />
Gathered from the roses red.<br />
I sometimes take you in my dreams to a far-<strong>of</strong>f land I used to know,<br />
Back in the ages long ago; a land <strong>of</strong> palms and languid streams.<br />
A land, <strong>by</strong> night, <strong>of</strong> jeweled skies, <strong>by</strong> day, <strong>of</strong> shores that glistened<br />
bright,<br />
Within whose arms, outstretched and white, a sapphire sea lay crescentwise. <br />
hid<br />
Where twilight fell like silver floss, where rose the golden moon half-<br />
Behind a shadowy pyramid; a land beneath the Southern Cross.<br />
And there the days dreamed in their flight, each one a poem chanted<br />
through,