Gift to Sing Poem James Weldon Johnson

The Gift to Sing

 

James Weldon Johnson

Sometimes the mist overhangs my path, And blackening clouds about me cling; But, oh, I have a magic way To turn the gloom to cheerful day—       I softly sing.   And if the way grows darker still, Shadowed by Sorrow’s somber wing, With glad defiance in my throat, I pierce the darkness with a note,        And sing, and sing.   I brood not over the broken past, Nor dread whatever time may bring; No nights are dark, no days are long, While in my heart there swells a song,        And I can sing.