A New Kind of Literary Pulse

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Classics African American Literature 19th Century 20th Century  1 min

Turn Me to My Yellow Leaves

William Stanley Braithwaite

William Stanley Braithwaite

An editor, anthologist, critic, and published poet himself, Braithwaite was a key figure in the revival of American poetry in the early decades of the twentieth century. From 1913 to 1929 he published the Anthology of Magazine Verse, an important annual collection that showcased the work of emerging poets on the American scene.

TURN me to my yellow leaves, I am better satisfied; There is something in me grieves— That was never born, and died. Let me be a scarlet flameOn a windy autumn morn, I who never had a name, Nor from breathing image born. From the margin let me fall Where the farthest stars sink down,And the void consumes me,—all In nothingness to drown. Let me dream my dream entire, Withered as an autumn leaf— Let me have my vain desire,Vain—as it is brief.