More by James Weldon Johnson
And God smiled again,
And the rainbow appeared,
And curled itself around his shoulder.
God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (1927)
The glory of the day was in her face,
The beauty of the night was in her eyes.
O black and unknown bards of long ago,
How came your lips to touch the sacred fire?
How, in your darkness, did you come to know
The power and beauty of the minstrels' lyre?
Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917)
With his head in his hands,
God thought and thought,
Till he thought: I'll make me a man!
God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (1927)
And Satan smiled, stretched out his hand, and said,—
"O War, of all the scourges of humanity, I crown you chief."
Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917)
Eternities before the first-born day,
Or ere the first sun fledged his wings of flame,
Calm Night, the everlasting and the same,
A brooding mother over chaos lay.
Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917)
Whose starward eye
Saw chariot “swing low”? And who was he
That breathed that comforting, melodic sigh,
“Nobody knows de trouble I see”?
Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917)
And God stepped out on space,
And He looked around and said,
"I'm lonely—
I'll make me a world."
God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (1927)
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