All yesterday it poured, and all night long
I could not sleep; the rain unceasing beat
Upon the shingled roof like a weird song,
Upon the grass like running children's feet.
And down the mountains by the dark cloud kissed,
Like a strange shape in filmy veiling dressed,
Slid slowly, silently, the wraith-like mist,
And nestled soft against the earth's wet breast.
But lo, there was a miracle at dawn!
The still air stirred at touch of the faint breeze,
The sun a sheet of gold bequeathed the lawn,
The songsters twittered in the rustling trees.
And all things were transfigured in the day,
But me whom radiant beauty could not move;
For you, more wonderful, were far away,
And I was blind with hunger for your love.

About This Poem
"Summer Morn in New Hampshire" was published in "Harlem Shadows: The Poems of Claude McKay" (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922).

About Claude McKay
Claude McKay was born in Jamaica in 1889. He moved to the United States in 1912, the same year that he published his first book of verse, "Jamaica." An influential figure to the poets of the Harlem Renaissance, his works include "Constab Ballads" (1912) and "Selected Poems" (1953). He died in May of 1948.

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This poem is in the public domain. Distributed by King Features Syndicate