"Beauty That is Never Old" by James Weldon Johnson

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June 7, 2020  

Beauty That is Never Old


James Weldon Johnson 

When buffeted and beaten by life’s storms,
When by the bitter cares of life oppressed,
I want no surer haven than your arms,
I want no sweeter heaven than your breast.

When over my life’s way there falls the blight
Of sunless days, and nights of starless skies;
Enough for me, the calm and steadfast light
That softly shines within your loving eyes.

The world, for me, and all the world can hold
Is circled by your arms; for me there lies,
Within the lights and shadows of your eyes,
The only beauty that is never old.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on June 7, 2020 by the Academy of American Poets.

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“Beauty That is Never Old” originally appeared in Fifty Years and Other Poems (The Cornhill Company, 1921).

James Weldon Johnson was born on June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida. The author of several books of prose and poetry, he became the national organizer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1920. Johnson died on June 26, 1938.

Fifty Years and Other Poems 
(The Cornhill Publishing Co., 1921)

Black Lives Matter Anthology

“You are who I love, you who stands at the courthouse with the sign that reads NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE”

—“You Are Who I Love” by Aracelis Girmay

Read this poem and more in our Black Lives Matter Anthology

“I Want to Die While You Love Me” by Georgia Douglas Johnson
read more
“El Beso” by Angelina Weld Grimké
read more

Thanks to Ari Banias, author of Anybody (W.W. Norton, 2016), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read a Q&A about Banias’ curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year.
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