Love
To a Brown Girl
From Color (1925)
Love
What if his glance is bold and free,
His mouth the lash of whips?
So should the eyes of lovers be,
And so a lover’s lips.
What if no puritanic strain
Confines him to the nice?
He will not pass this way again,
Nor hunger for you twice.
Since in the end consort together
Magdalen and Mary,
Youth is the time for careless weather:
Later, lass, be wary.
✦ ✦ ✦
Codex Note
For Roberta
Cite this poem
MLA
Cullen, Countee. “To a Brown Girl.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/cullen/5/.
Chicago
Cullen, Countee. “To a Brown Girl.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/cullen/5/.
Read this poem with the Codex →