FROM THE POETRY SHELF1922
The City’S Love
by Claude McKay
For one brief golden moment rare like wine,
The gracious city swept across the line;
Oblivious of the color of my skin,
Forgetting that I was an alien guest,
She bent to me, my hostile heart to win,
Caught me in passion to her pillowy breast;
The great, proud city, seized with a strange love,
Bowed down for one flame hour my pride to prove.
Collection and author context
The linked Project Gutenberg text places this poem in Harlem Shadows (1922), the collection closely associated with McKay’s place in the Harlem Renaissance. His biography and linked references give more context for the collection and its moment.
Source text: Harlem Shadows (1922) · Project Gutenberg. Further reading: all poems by Claude McKay · Academy of American Poets: Claude McKay · Poetry Foundation: Claude McKay.