Saturday, February 28, 2009

Being John Carlos

A Certain Man

A certain man wishes to be a prince
Of this earth; he also wants to be
A saint and master of the being-world.
Conscience cannot exist in the first:
The second cannot exist without conscience.
Therefore he, who has enough conscience
To be disturbed but not enough to be
Compelled, can neither reject the one
Nor follow the other...

-- Jean Toomer

Thank you Mr. John Carlos for your conscience and courage. You are our prince.

4 comments:

Cynthia said...

Excellent poem, I have to read this
the one again, I've read it twice to really digest the content.

Judith Ellis said...

Jean Toomer is a most beautiful Harlem Renaissance poet. I came to his poetry many years ago and fell in love with him. Each time I read him it's a love affair.

lissa said...

hmm powerful poem. thank you for sharing and thanks for stopping by my blog. i'll add you to my reader so i can come by often.

Judith Ellis said...

Hi Lissa - I'm happy you like Toomer's work. I came to know of your work through Cynthia's blog. I'm glad you are here.