Youth

I am a knotted nebula—
a whirling flame
Shrieking aftire the endless darkness ...
I am the eternal center of gravity
and about me swing the crazy moons—
I am the thunder of rising suns,
the blaze of the zenith—
... the tremble of women’s bodies
in the arms of lovers ...
I sit on top of the Pole
Drunk with starry splendor
Shouting hozzanas at the Pleiades
... booting footballs at the moon—
I shall outlast the sun
and the moon
and the stars.…

Credit

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on January 18, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.

About this Poem

“Youth” was published in Ebony and Topaz (1927), a single-issue art and literature magazine founded by Charles S. Johnson—a scholar, sociologist, and advocate of Harlem Renaissance writers and artists.

Author

Frank Horne

Frank Smith Horne was born in New York, New York, on August 18, 1899, to the private contractor and builder, Edwin Fletcher Horne, and to Cora Calhoun Horne. He was the third of four sons. Horne’s family was middle-class, and his parents were active, early members of the NAACP. He was an uncle to singer and actress Lena Horne. Horne earned a BS from City College of New York in 1921, and later graduated from the Northern Illinois College of Ophthalmology with the degree of doctor of optometry in 1923. He completed his education with an MA from USC in 1932.

Date Published

01/01/1927