Love
The Foolish Heart
From The Black Christ & Other Poems (1929)
Love
“Be still, heart, cease those measured strokes;
Lie quiet in your hollow bed;
This moving frame is but a hoax
To make you think you are not dead.”
Thus spake I to my body’s slave,
With beats still to be answerèd;
Poor foolish heart that needs a grave
To prove to it that it is dead.
Cite this poem
MLA
Cullen, Countee. “The Foolish Heart.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/cullen/92/.
Chicago
Cullen, Countee. “The Foolish Heart.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/cullen/92/.
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