That Hill
It crawled away from ’neath my feet
And left me standing there;
A little at a time, went up
An atmospheric stair.
I couldn’t go for watching it,
To see where it would stop;
A tree sprang out and waved to me
When it had reached the top.
The tree kept nodding friendly like,
Beckoning me to follow;
And I went crawling up and up,
Like it did from the hollow.
Then I saw why the thing would go
A-soaring from the dell—
’Twas nearing Heaven every bound,
And fleeing fast from Hell!
From Caroling Dusk (Harper & Brothers, 1927), edited by Countee Cullen. This poem is in the public domain.
Blanche Taylor Dickinson
Blanche Taylor Dickinson was a poet, short story writer, and journalist associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Dickinson was born to Laura and Thomas Taylor on a farm near Franklin, Kentucky, on April 15, 1896. She received her education in various public schools before enrolling at Bowling Green Academy. She then attended Simmons College of Kentucky (then Simmons University) in Louisville, a private, historically-Black college, but earned no degree.