Adolescence by Claude McKay

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend February 12, 2017   Adolescence   Claude McKay

There was a time when in late afternoon     The four-o'clocks would fold up at day's close Pink-white in prayer, and 'neath the floating moon     I lay with them in calm and sweet repose.   And in the open spaces I could sleep,     Half-naked to the shining worlds above; Peace came with sleep and sleep was long and deep,     Gained without effort, sweet like early love.   But now no balm—nor drug nor weed nor wine—     Can bring true rest to cool my body's fever, Nor sweeten in my mouth the acid brine,     That salts my choicest drink and will forever.            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   "Adolescence" was published in McKay's book Harlem Shadows (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922).   Claude McKay was born in Jamaica on September 15, 1889. His books include Songs of Jamaica (A.W. Gardner, 1912) and Constab Ballads (Watts, 1912). McKay died on May 22, 1948.   Photo credit: Carl Van Vechten Poetry by McKay   Selected Poems (Dover Thrift Editions, 1999)  "Hearing your words and not a word among them (Sonnet XXXVI)" by Edna St. Vincent Millay "Lines to a Nasturtium" by Anne Spencer "Brotherhood" by Georgia Douglas Johnson Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. 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