To Joseph Lee by Angelina Weld Grimké

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend September 24, 2016   To Joseph Lee   Angelina Weld Grimké

How strange, how passing strange, when we awake         And lift our faces to the light To know that you are lying shut away         Within the night.   How strange, how passing strange, when we lie down         To sleep, to know that you are quite Alone beneath the moon, the stars, the little leaves,         Within the night.   How strange, how passing strange to know—our eyes         Will gladden at the fine sweet sight Of you no more, for now your face is hid         Within the night.   Strange, strange indeed, these things to us appear         And yet we know they must be right; And though your body sleeps, your soul has passed         Beyond the night.   Ah! friend, it must be sweet to slip from out         The tears, the pain, the losing fight Below, and rest, just rest eternally         Beyond the night.   And sweet it must be too, to know the kiss         Of Peace, of Peace, the pure, the white And step beside her hand in hand quite close         Beyond the night.            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   “To Joseph Lee” was published in the Boston Evening Transcript on November 11, 1908.   Angelina Weld Grimké was born on February 27, 1880, in Boston, Massachusetts. Grimké wrote essays, short stories, and poems, which were published in The Crisis, the newspaper of the NAACP, throughout her career. She died on June 10, 1958. Poetry by Grimké   Rachel (Oberon Books, 2015) "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas "Morning Song" by Sylvia Plath "the sonnet-ballad" by Gwendolyn Brooks Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038