Classic and Contemporary Poetry
VOICES, by OLIVA WARD BUSH Poet's Biography First Line: I stand upon the haunted plain Last Line: The voice of opportunity. Alternate Author Name(s): Bush-banks, Oliva Ward Subject(s): African Americans - Women | ||||||||
I stand upon the haunted plain Of vanished day and year, And ever o'er its gloomy waste Some strange, sad voice I hear. Some voice from out the shadowed Past; And one I call Regret, And one I know is Misspent Hours, Whose memory lingers yet. Then Failure speaks in bitter tones, And Grief, with all its woes; Remorse, whose deep and cruel stings My painful thoughts disclose. Thus do these voices speak to me, And flit like shadows past; My spirit falters in despair, And tears flow thick and fast. But when, within the wide domain Of Future Day and Year I stand, and o'er its sunlit Plain A sweeter Voice I hear, Which bids me leave the darkened Past And crush its memory, -- I'll listen gladly, and obey The Voice of Opportunity. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BLACK WOMAN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON FOREDOOM by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON WHO SAID IT WAS SIMPLE by AUDRE LORDE ELIZABETH KECKLEY: 30 YEARS A SLAVE AND 4 YEARS IN THE WHITE HOUSE by E. ETHELBERT MILLER ON DIVERSE DEVIATIONS by MAYA ANGELOU HYMN FOR LANIE POO by AMIRI BARAKA THE DREAM SONGS: 68 by JOHN BERRYMAN A HERO OF SAN JUAN HILL by OLIVA WARD BUSH |
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