Poem
Ah, I know what happiness is. . . . 
It is a timid little fawn
Creeping softly up to me
For one caress, then gone
Before I’m through with it . . . 
Away, like dark from dawn!
Well I know what happiness is . . . !
It is the break of day that wears
A shining dew decked diadem . . . 
An aftermath of tears. 
Fawn and dawn, emblems of joy . . . 
I’ve played with them for years,
And always they will slip away
Into the brush of another day. 
From Caroling Dusk (Harper & Brothers, 1927), edited by Countee Cullen. This poem is in the public domain.