Welt
Would I might mend the fabric of my youth
That daily flaunts its tatters to my eyes,
Would I might compromise awhile with truth
Until our moon now waxing, wanes and dies.
For I would go a further while with you,
And drain this cup so tantalant and fair
Which meets my parched lips like cooling dew,
Ere time has brushed cold fingers through my hair!
From The Book of American Negro Poetry (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922), edited by James Weldon Johnson. This poem is in the public domain.
Georgia Douglas Johnson
Georgia Douglas Johnson was born in Atlanta on September 10, 1880, and was raised in Rome, Georgia, and Atlanta. Johnson attended Atlanta University Normal School and studied music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. She initially aspired to become a composer.