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A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Beauty That Is Never Old

James Weldon Johnson

When buffeted and beaten by life’s storms,
When by the bitter cares of life oppressed,
I want no surer haven than your arms,
I want no sweeter heaven than your breast.

When over my life’s way there falls the blight
Of sunless days, and nights of starless skies;
Enough for me, the calm and steadfast light
That softly shines within your loving eyes.

The world, for me, and all the world can hold
Is circled by your arms; for me there lies,
Within the lights and shadows of your eyes,
The only beauty that is never old.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Fifty Years & Other Poems | The Cornhill Company, 1917
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