Poem by James Weldon Johnson

The Gift to Sing

Sometimes the mist overhangs my path,
And blackening clouds about me cling;
But, oh, I have a magic way
To turn the gloom to cheerful day--
  I softly sing.

And if the way grows darker still,
Shadowed by Sorrow's somber wing,
With glad defiance in my throat,
I pierce the darkness with a note,
  And sing, and sing.

I brood not over the broken past,
Nor dread whatever time may bring;
No nights are dark, no days are long,
While in my heart there swells a song,
  And I can sing.

1. The Color Sergeant
2. Answer to Prayer
3. Before a Painting
4. Down by the Carib Sea. 1. Sunrise in the Tropics
5. Down by the Carib Sea. 6. Sunset in the Tropics

Print

1149 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version