Escape
I turned to the world for silence
But only turmoil kept
The very hills and valleys
Where beauty once had crept.
I turned to my heart for silence
I did not find it there,
For therein were the tyrants
Sorrow and despair.
I turned to my soul for silence—
There like a pensive pool
Was silence like a king in state
Calm, serene, and cool.
From Black Opals 1, no. 3 (June, 1928). This poem is in the public domain.
Lewis Grandison Alexander
Lewis Grandison Alexander was born in 1900 in Washington D. C.. An editor, actor, and playwright, his poems appeared in the magazines The Crisis, Opportunity, and Fire!!, as well as the anthologies The New Negro (Albert and Charles Boni, 1925), Caroling Dusk (Harper & Brothers, 1927), and Ebony and Topaz (1927). He died in 1945.