Shades of Love

This Black History Month, we honor the legacy and power of Black poets whose words have shaped literature and culture. From Langston Hughes and William Stanley Braithwaite to Kwame Dawes, Len Verwey, and Ashley Makue, these poets remind us that Black history is one of resilience, artistry, and deep, enduring love—for language, for community, for the future. Join us as we celebrate their voices and the richness they bring to poetry.

Harlem Night Song 

By Langston Hughes

     Come,

     Let us roam the night together

     Singing.

     I love you.

     Across

    The Harlem roof-tops

     Moon is shining.

     Night sky is blue.

     Stars are great drops

     Of golden dew.

     In the cabaret

     The jazz-band’s playing.

     I love you.

     Come,

     Let us roam the night together

     Singing.

Originally published in The Weary Blues, 1926

Sea Lyric

by William Stanley Braithwaite

     OVER the seas to-night, love,

     Over the darksome deeps,

     Over the seas to-night, love,

     Slowly my vessel creeps.

     Over the seas to-night, love,

     Waking the sleeping foam —

     Sailing away from thee, love,

     Sailing from thee and home.

     Over the seas to — night, love,

     Dreaming beneath the spars —

     Till in my dreams you shine, love,

     Bright as the listening stars.

Originally published in Lyrics of Life and Love 

Les Negres De Paris 

By Kwame Dawes

These days I study old photographs

                and collect those with bodies

                              facing away, their backs

their heavy coats, their shawls

and hats, as they move in crowds

through cities covered in snow

or slick with rain, or washed

in plain light—and I imagine

these are the bodies of Black

people, recolonizing the imagination.

And this is how I find my

            company here far from

                          home, how I show love,

how I feel safe. Every back,

                    it seems, is a blood neighbor.

Originally published in Poetry International issue #27-28

Simple

by Len Verwey

I’d recognize you now

in an instant,

yet I’d struggle to describe you to a friend

as you were then.

What mattered was

I was there to win you forever.

I had no other business to attend to

and knew it, and everyone who

knew me knew it too.

Having won you,

I’d speak no more of any of it,

I’d decided, but since I didn’t,

I haven’t stopped.

Originally Published in the African Poetry Book Series by University of Nebraska Press from his book In a Language That You Know

peace offering

by Ashley Makue

i have decided that

love may no longer

summon me to war

i have laid off my troops

blood-bathed my body

clean of all sin

i will no longer kiss

like breaking my law

or make love

like being broken into

i will clear my eyes

of all my specks

and then i shall see you

you see

these are the days

of the sweet treaty

Originally published in her chapbook I Know how to Fix Myself, 2017