Now the dead past seems vividly alive,
And in this shining moment I can trace,
Down through the vista of the vanished years,
Your faun-like form, your fond elusive face.
And suddenly some secret spring’s released,
And unawares a riddle is revealed,
And I can read like large, black-lettered print,
What seemed before a thing forever sealed.
I know the magic word, the graceful thought,
The song that fills me in my lucid hours,
The spirit’s wine that thrills my body through,
And makes me music-drunk, are yours, all yours.
I cannot praise, for you have passed from praise,
I have no tinted thoughts to paint you true;
But I can feel and I can write the word;
The best of me is but the least of you.
(Claude McKay)
More Poetry from Claude McKay:
Claude McKay Poems based on Topics: Faces, Mind, Thought & Thinking, Secrets, Praise- Two-An'-Six (Claude McKay Poems)
- To The White Fiends (Claude McKay Poems)
- The Negro's Friend (Claude McKay Poems)
- White Houses (Claude McKay Poems)
- When I Have Passed Away (Claude McKay Poems)
- Dawn in New York (Claude McKay Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Mind Poems, Faces Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Praise Poems, Secrets PoemsBased on Keywords: lucid, unawares, elusive, vividly, vista, tinted, faun-like, black-lettered