Category: Poetry
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“Beehive”
“Silver bees intently buzzing, Silver honey dripping from the swarm of bees Earth is a waxen cell of the world comb,”— from “Beehive” by Jean Toomer
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“If We Must Die”
“Oh, Kinsmen! We must meet the common foe; Though far outnumbered, let us still be brave, And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!…”— from “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay
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A Song for Myself
“The corn Will fat A hog Or rat:” — from “A Song for Myself” by Melvin B. Tolson
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From “An Anniversary Poem, Entitled, ‘The Progress of Liberty” by James Madison Bell (1826 – 1902)
“Though slavery’s dead, yet there remains A work for those from whom the chains Today are falling one by one; Nor should they deem their labor done,”— from “An Anniversary Poem, Entitled, ‘The Progress of Liberty” by James Madison Bell
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On Being Brought from Africa to America
“Some view our sable race with scornful eye, “Their colour is a diabolic die.” Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain, May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.” — from “On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA.” by Phillis Wheatley
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“Lift Every Voice and Sing”
“God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who has brought us thus far on the way; Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light,” — excerpt from “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson
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The Streetsweeper
“Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, JR.
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“A Jelly Fish”
The blue Surrounding it Grows cloudy, and It floats away From you.
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“And When My Sorrow was Born” by Khalil Gibran (1883 – 1931)
And every day for seven moons I proclaimed my Joy from the house-top—and yet no one heeded me. And my Joy and I were alone, unsought and unvisited.
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“Welt” by Georgia Douglas Johnson
“For I would go a further while with you…”
Stanza & Story 