Dandelions by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Dandelions Welcome children of the Spring    In your garbs of green and gold Lifting up your sun-crowned heads    On the verdant plain and world   As a bright and joyous troop    From the breast of earth ye came Fair and lovely are your cheeks    With sun-kisses all aflame   In the dusty streets and lanes    Where the lowly children play There as gentle friends ye smile    Making brighter life’s highway   Dewdrops and the morning sun    Weave your garments fair and bright And…

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Spring Cleaning by Melvin Dixon

Spring Cleaning First goes floor dust, then newspapers stacked near the bed. Peanut shells swept out of  hiding between mattress and rug. Toenails clipped. Sprouts of a beard shaved off. With hourly glasses of Deer Park Water and the barest of food, the body sheds winter fat and filler The hair goes next, close to the gleaming, gleaming skull You are ready for the sun and the salt-tongued air You are someone new. I will be someone new, like you, and promise not to hear the rattle our bones make…

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Confession by Countee Cullen

Confession …………………. If for a day joy masters me Think not my wounds are healed Far deeper than the scars you see I keep the roots concealed They shall bear blossoms with the fall I have their word for this Who tend my roots with rains of gall And suns of prejudice

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