Dennis Brutus: "age and anguish yield a harvest"

Poems by Dennis Brutus from his book Stubborn Hope







Age and Anguish yield a harvest
Dennis Brutus

Age and anguish yield a harvest
star precious as the lilts of youth
inhabit an arctic of perennial grief
For those who never see the sun
the cold is a familiar
and dark the normal habitat
The barnacles of grief acquire patinas
They yield their own
deceptive light
our hearts become
inured to dying.

That People Care
Dennis Brutus 

That people care
is more than money
their thoughts, their love, their prayers
this is what gives us strength

And when they praise
we are ashamed
of our complaints
our failure to endure

That people care
is more to us than weapons-
and that they share
our fights and anxieties.