The castaways

The Castaways The vivid grass with visible delight Springing triumphant from the pregnant earth, The butterflies and flowers in brief flight Dancing and chirping from the season’s birth, 5 The dandelions and rare daffodils That touch the deep-stirred heart with hands of gold, The thrushes sending forth their joyous thrills,- Not these, not these did I at first behold! But seated on the benches daubed with green, 10 The castaways of life, a few asleep, Some withered women desolate and mean And over all, life’s shadows dark and deep. Moaning turned away, for misery I have the strength to bear but not to see. Adapted from Claude McKay, “The Castaways”, Selected Poems of Claude McKay, Harcourt Porace Jovanovich, 1953.