There is someone smiling at me from behind and someone holding out a hand in front to say hello and persons unfamiliar with familiar ways on either side to put me at my ease. I should despair. I do despair. Where are the stones strung around my neck I much prefer to carry, on hands and knees and friends to lift me by my shoulders to take the necklace from my neck? They do not understand that I, without it, am just a person like themselves, unhappy, going to the help of others, in the illusion that it sets them free. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE STORY OF THE END OF THE STORY by JAMES GALVIN DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 6. SUNSET IN THE TROPICS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON JONAH'S SONG, FR. MOBY DICK by HERMAN MELVILLE KNOWLEDGE by HENRY DAVID THOREAU THE PRAIRIE-GRASS DIVIDING by WALT WHITMAN A SOLDIER'S GRAVE by JOHN ALBEE MOONRISE AT SEA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |