April Is National Poetry Month!  

 THE LOVE AMIE

(Dedicated to Mrs. Amy Jacques Garvey)

MARCUS GARVEY

I wandered far in life's stern way
To seek the good of every day;
But fell among the thieves of Thane,
Who tried to rob my honest name.

I found no brotherhood in man;
But here and there a vicious clan;
No truth, no love, no justice find
Their way into these groups unkind.

But you have been a light to me,
A fond and dear, and true Amie;
So what care I for falsest friend,
When on your love I can depend.

To steal one's wealth is always trash,
O'er which some men are ne'er abash;
But then to steal and blot a name,
It takes the courage of a Thane,

But all they do is only nought,
Because the battle has been fought,
And I have won your love, Amie,
The greatest treasure I can see.

October 31 1927 

April Is National Poetry Month!   

 MUSIC IN MY SOUL

MARCUS GARVEY 

There's music in my soul today,
A joy of heart not there before:
This state of conscience I relay
To rich and proud and meek and poor.

There's music in my happy Soul:
From Heaven's realm doth truly flow
This music in my happy Soul,
My conscience tells me rightly so.

My song of joy I sing to you:
Let peace and love forever be
Among ye men of every hue,
Of every land and charted sea.

I crave no other fortune great,
But joy to live in peace with God;
My hopes are fixed on His Estate,
In faith so true as prophets had.

This music in my soul today
I spread in truth with love unfurled;
On waves of cheer it goes, I pray,
To reach around the belted world.

August 23, 1927  

April Is National Poetry Month! 

  OUR DAY!

MARCUS GARVEY 

The Bread of life is gift of God to man,
The blood of Christ is solace grand:
To eat the food of Love Divine,
Brings hope that leads to glory's land.

The glorious Sacrament of Christ
Is tonic to the soul each day:
A ransom in the Blood of love,
Is gain for those who humbly pray.

As sons of Ham we eat the Bread,
And drink the Holy Christian Blood:
Our hope is in the Grace of God,
For sufferings thus understood.

Our day will come with showers true,
For God on evil things will frown:
Almighty love is all we claim,
Though man destroys and keeps us down.

1934  

April Is National Poetry Month!   

THE BRAVEST SOUL

MARCUS GARVEY

The toil of life is never ending;
It passes from one stage to others;
We live beneath its sombre bending,
And ape the customs of our fathers.

We glory in its radiant joys,
And smile with the everlasting sun;
This eternal change that man employs,
Has been so from Adam's day begun.

The bravest soul truly conquers all,
In seeing God in our fellow man,
This planet is just a spinning ball
Of God's wondrous spiritual plan.

In this life we may know no better;
But in death we pass to Spirit Land,
Where the Soul is free from all fetter,
To join God in His creative hand.

August 22, 1927  

April Is National Poetry Month!   

 

WHAT WE SEE

MARCUS GARVEY

To look into the world of sin,
And see men shine like burning gold,
To ask myself from right within,
Can I be just the same-as bold?
And out the answer comes to me:
"The same that governs them, does you."
its just the way you look, you see-
But of all things, be good and true.

1937

 April Is National Poetry Month!  

THE MYSTERY 

MARCUS GARVEY

All life is mystery to man
Who speculates the cause,
His final clue is God alone
Who made and holds the laws.
From Africa to Ancient Greece
The light of knowledge flew,
But up to now the truths revealed
Go back to what man knew.

There is a God above all things
His wisdom is complete,
As ages come and ages go
To leave us at His feet.
Eternity will ever be
The gauge of finite man,
For life to him is just a song
In passing with the clan.

We come to live, then go again,
And still some more are we,
As Nature blends in every form
Beyond the land and sea.
We're ever looking on before
To see life's moving train,
And as we go we leave behind
The same old human pain.

1935

 April Is National Poetry Month!

UNTITLED

MARCUS GARVEY

If I were you, I would
Search myself
To find out if there is any
Good in me.

1934