Gone, gone forever the familiar forms To which my spirit once so dearly clung, Blown worlds beyond by the destroying storms, And lost away like lovely songs unsung. Yet life still lingers, questioningly strange, Timid and quivering, naked and alone, Biding the cycle of disruptive change, Though all the fond familiar forms are gone Forever gone, the fond familiar forms, Blown worlds beyond by the destroying storms. ABSENCE[15] Your words dropped into my heart like pebbles into a pool, Rippling around my breast and leaving it melting cool. Your kisses fell sharp on my flesh like dawn-dews from the limb Of a fruit-filled lemon tree when the day is young and dim. Like soft rain-christened sunshine, as fragile as rare gold lace, Your breath, sweet-scented and warm, has kindled my tranquil face. But a silence vasty-deep, oh deeper than all these ties Now, through the menacing miles, brooding between us lies. And more than the songs I sing, I await your written word, To stir my fluent blood as never your presence stirred. MY HOUSE For this peculiar tint that paints my house Peculiar in an alien atmosphere Where other houses wear a kindred hue, I have a stirring always very rare And romance-making in my ardent blood, That channels through my body like a flood. I know the dark delight of being strange, The penalty of difference in the crowd, The loneliness of wisdom among fools, Yet never have I felt but very proud, Though I have suffered agonies of hell, Of living in my own peculiar cell. There is an exaltation of man’s life, His hidden life, that he alone can feel. The blended fires that heat his veins within, Shaping his metals into finest steel, Are elements from his own native earth, That the wise gods bestowed on him at birth. Oh each man’s mind contains an unknown realm Walled in from other men however near, And unimagined in their highest flights Of comprehension or of vision clear; A realm where he withdraws to contemplate Infinity and his own finite state. Thence he may sometimes catch a god-like glimpse Of mysteries that seem beyond life’s bar; Thence he may hurl his little shaft at heaven And bring down accidentally a star, And drink its foamy dust like sparkling wine And echo accents of the laugh divine. Then he may fall into a drunken sleep And wake up in his same house painted blue Or white or green or red or brown or black-- His house, his own, whatever be the hue. But things for him will not be what they seem To average men since he has dreamt his dream! FOOTNOTES: [11] From “Harlem Shadows” by Claude McKay, Copyright 1922, by Harcourt, Brace & Company, Inc. [12] From “Harlem Shadows” by Claude McKay, Copyright 1922, by Harcourt, Brace & Company, Inc. [13] From “Harlem Shadows” by Claude McKay, Copyright 1922, by Harcourt, Brace & Company, Inc. [14] From “Harlem Shadows” by Claude McKay, Copyright 1922, by Harcourt, Brace & Company, Inc.