Today's Beautiful Gem: `Turn Me To My Yellow Leaves' by William Braithwaite

"Turn me to my yellow leaves,
I am better satisfied;
There is something in me grieves--
That was never born, and died,
Let me be a scarlet flame
On a windy autumn morn,
I who never had a name,
Not from breathing image born.
From the margin let me fall
Where the farthest stars sink down,
And the void consumes me,-- all
In nothingness to drown.
Let me dream my dream entire,
Withered as an autumn leaf--
Let me have my vain desire,
Vain-- as it is brief."

Note: William Braithwaite lived in the earlier part of the century.
He was not only a poet, but also an anthologist and a critic.
His poetry is marked by delicate beauty, often tinged by mysticism
or whimsy. Though an Aframerican by birth, he wrote no poetry
motivated or coloured by race.

Om Santih! Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao

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