Page:Darkwater (Du Bois 1920).djvu/205

Rh Beneath the whirring of almighty wings,

While downward from my feet

Streamed the long line of dusky faces

And the wail of little children sobbing under earth.

Alone, aloft,

I saw through firmaments on high

The drama of Almighty God,

With all its flaming suns and stars.

"Freedom!" I cried.

"Freedom!" cried heaven, earth, and stars;

And a Voice near-far,

Amid the folding and unfolding of almighty wings,

Answered, "I am Freedom—

Who sees my face is free—

He and his."

I dared not look;

Downward I glanced on deep-bowed heads and closéd eyes,

Outward I gazed on flecked and flaming blue—

But ever onward, upward flew

The sobbing of small voices,—

Down, down, far down into the night.

Slowly I lifted livid limbs aloft;

Upward I strove: the face! the face!

Onward I reeled: the face! the face!

To beauty wonderful as sudden death,

Or horror horrible as endless life—

Up! Up! the blood-built way;

(Shadow grow vaster!

Terror come faster!)

Up! Up! to the blazing blackness

Of one veiléd face.