Tonight I may die. Rain, wind, sun Will scatter everywhere my heart, my nerves, my marrow. All will be over for me. Neither sleep nor awakening. I shall not have been out there among the stars. In every direction, I know, on those distant worlds, Are similar pilgrims of pale solitudes, Extending us their hands across the gentle dark, Sister Humanities dreaming in multitudes. Yes, brothers everywhere. That I know, I know. And all alone like us. Trembling with sadness, They beckon to us at night. Ah, shall we never go? We would console one another in our great distress. The stars, it is certain, will one day meet, Heralding perhaps that universal dawn Now sung by those beggars with caste marks of thought. A fraternal outcry will be raised against God. Alas, before that time, rain, wind, sun Will have lost in the distance my heart, my nerves, my marrow. All will be done without me. Neither dream nor awakening. I shall not have been among the gentle stars. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BLACK MAMMY by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON HOUSE WITH THE MARBLE STEPS by AMY LOWELL MY SENSES DO NOT DECEIVE ME by MARIANNE MOORE TO BE LIKED BY YOU WOULD BE A CALAMITY by MARIANNE MOORE THE STORY OF THE ASHES AND THE FLAME by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON HYBRIDS OF WAR: A MORALITY POEM: 1. VIETNAM by KAREN SWENSON |