Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

James Weldon Johnson

Out of the infinite sea of eternity
To climb, and for an instant stand
Upon an island speck of time.

From the impassible peace of the darkness
To wake, and blink at the garish light
Through one short hour of fretfulness.

Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Fifty Years & Other Poems | The Cornhill Company, 1917

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Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

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