| James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922. |
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| Dogwood Blossoms |
| | | George Marion McClellan |
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| TO dreamy languors and the violet mist | |
| Of early Spring, the deep sequestered vale | |
| Gives first her paling-blue Miamimist, | |
| Where blithely pours the cuckoo’s annual tale | |
| Of Summer promises and tender green, | 5 |
| Of a new life and beauty yet unseen. | |
| The forest trees have yet a sighing mouth, | |
| Where dying winds of March their branches swing, | |
| While upward from the dreamy, sunny South, | |
| A hand invisible leads on the Spring. | 10 |
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| His rounds from bloom to bloom the bee begins | |
| With flying song, and cowslip wine he sups, | |
| Where to the warm and passing southern winds, | |
| Azaleas gently swing their yellow cups. | |
| Soon everywhere, with glory through and through, | 15 |
| The fields will spread with every brilliant hue. | |
| But high o’er all the early floral train, | |
| Where softness all the arching sky resumes, | |
| The dogwood dancing to the winds’ refrain, | |
| In stainless glory spreads its snowy blooms. | 20 |
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