Page:Negro poets and their poems (IA negropoetstheirp00kerl).pdf/129

Rh It’s work we must, and love we must, And do the best we may, And take the hope of dreams in trust To keep us day by day. It’s a long way the sea-winds blow— But somewhere lies a shore— Thus down the tide of Time shall flow My dreams forevermore.

Mr. Braithwaite’s art rises above race. He seems not to be race-conscious in his writing, whether prose or verse. Yet no man can say but that race has given his poetry the distinctive quality I have indicated. In this connection a most interesting poem is his “A New England Spinster.” The detachment is perfect, the analysis is done in the spirit of absolute art. I will quote but two of its dozen or so stanzas:

She dwells alone, and never heeds How strange may sound her own footfall, And yet is prompt to others’ needs, Or ready at a neighbor’s call. But still her world is one apart, Serene above desire and change; There are no hills beyond her heart, Beyond her gate, no winds that range.

Here is the true artist’s imagination that penetrates to the secrets of life. No poet’s lyrics, with their deceptive simplicity, better reward study for a full appreciation of their idea. So