Harlem Shadows/The Barrier

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On Broadway

Harlem Shadows (1922)
by Claude McKay

The Barrier

Adolescence

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First published in The Liberator, Vol. 2 No.7 July 1917, republished in Workers' Dreadnought Vol VI No. 24, p.1455.

2644069Harlem Shadows — The Barrier1922Claude McKay

Layout 2

THE BARRIER

I must not gaze at them although
Your eyes are dawning day;
I must not watch you as you go
Your sun-illumined way;

I hear but I must never heed
The fascinating note,
Which, fluting like a river reed,
Comes from your trembling throat;

I must not see upon your face
Love's softly glowing spark;
For there's the barrier of race,
You're fair and I am dark.