To Keep the Memory of Charlotte Forten Grimké by Angelina Weld Grimké | Poets.org

Still are there wonders of the dark and day; The muted shrillings of shy things at night, So small beneath the stars and moon;

To Keep the Memory of Charlotte Forten Grimké

 

Still are there wonders of the dark and day;

The muted shrillings of shy things at night,

So small beneath the stars and moon;

The peace, dream-frail, but perfect while the light

Lies softly on the leaves at noon.

These are, and these will be

Until Eternity;

But she who loved them well has gone away.

 

Each dawn, while yet the east is veiléd grey,

The birds about her window wake and sing;

And far away each day some lark

I know is singing where the grasses swing;

Some robin calls and calls at dark.

These are, and these will be

Until Eternity;

But she who loved them well has gone away.

 

The wild flowers that she loved down green ways stray;

Her roses lift their wistful buds at dawn,

But not for eyes that loved them best;

Only her little pansies are all gone,

Some lying softly on her breast.

And flowers will bud and be

Until Eternity;

But she who loved them well has gone away.

 

Where has she gone? And who is there to say?

But this we know: her gentle spirit moves

And is where beauty never wanes,

Perchance by other streams, mid other groves;

And to us here, ah! she remains

A lovely memory,

Until Eternity;

She came, she loved, and then she went away.

 

 

About This Poem

Charlotte Forten Grimké, an African American antislavery activist, poet, and educator, was Angelina Weld Grimké’s aunt. Angelina lived with Charlotte during her teenage years, while her father served as the American consul to the Dominican Republic.

Angelina Weld Grimké was born on February 27, 1880, in Boston. In addition to being a poet, she was one of the first African American women to have a play publicly performed. Grimké died in 1958.